The Third Tier
by The-Shy-Quiet-One
Summary: Pure-blooded, Prefect, and a Slytherin Beater, Cal is popular with both girls and teachers alike. Muggleborn and stuttering, Spicen is a friendless Hufflepuff who also happens to be a bit of a pain in the ass. What happens when their two very different worlds awkwardly bump into each other? (I suck at summaries. The inside is better. Rating is strictly a safety measure.)
1. Library

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and the world belong to the wonderful and astounding J.K. Rowling.

_**Note: Rating may change later.**_

**The Third Tier**

**_Chapter One: In Which a Library is Actually Used for Its Intended Purpose_**

"Out of the way, Huffledork!" A rucksack hit the stone floor of the corridor. Books, quills, and parchment spilled out, ink bottles from the bottom of the bag smashing and soaking through the bits of paper. A quill was stepped on by hurried feet and the girl the bag belonged to heaved a quiet sigh looking down upon the mess. She waited for the stampede to end as people headed for their classes or common rooms if they had a break in their schedule.

Spicen pulled her wand out of the inner pocket of her robes and siphoned most of the ink off of her books and parchment and then repaired the broken bottles. There was no saving the ink, but at least all the hard work she had spent on her Charms essay wouldn't be for naught. Maybe she could send a mail order away for some new bottles, or borrow one from a professor? She had one bottle left, the one she used to do her homework with, back up in the dorm, but it was nearly empty.

After getting her bag sorted, Spicen replaced it upon her shoulder and hurried down the now empty corridor for the library. She needed to do some studying for a test in Potions that was to be given tomorrow. She disappeared to her usual corner, a remote place next to the Muggle fiction section of the library. It had most of her favorite books there anyway, things she had read through when she was a lot younger. And it was away from the prying eyes of the other students, a place where she felt safest.

After sitting in an armchair with her potions book on her lap, a ruckus on the first floor of the library caused the girl to look up from her book. She rose from her chair cautiously, leaving the book laying face down upon the seat of the chair and made her way out from between the bookshelves and over to the banister that overlooked the lower level of the tower the library was located in.

Two boys, both of their black school robes trimmed with red, flew about ten feet from the ground. There was no doubting they had come in through the open window that was letting in the warm sun of early autumn. Upon further inspection, the two boys seemed to be chasing after a scattering group of students in green trimmed robes and dropping… were those water balloons?

"I'm going to report you to Professor Harper, Hammald!" The only girl in the group of Slytherins shouted, her blonde pigtails dripping with bits of balloon in them as she shouted up at one of the Gryffindor boys. "And you too, Reading! You just wait! Throwing water balloons in the library is especially against school rules!"

One of the Slytherin boys jumped onto a table and snatched at one of the brooms, but he missed and tumbled down to the floor as the Gryffindors laughed and flew out the window, tossing their last few balloons just to be rid of them.

"Leave it, Ofrin." The other boy in the group stated as the one who had gotten up onto the table ran at the window, his wand out. "We'll get them back, easy. Prefects may not be able to give detentions, but we can report them. Hammald and Reading will be in detention for a week after this stunt." The boy shook the water out of his hair and wrung out the sleeve of his robes that had been hit by one of the balloons.

The girl watched as the Slytherins gathered their soaked things from a nearby table. Ofrin and the girl Slytherin left, complaining of having water in their shoes while the other boy remained behind, sorting out the contents of his bag and pulling out his wand to fix them up.

…...

"Stupid bloody Hammald." Callahan Wilkes grumbled to himself as he dumped out his sodden schoolbag on a table and began going through his things. His books and papers were wet with the water from the balloons the two Gryffindor boys had dropped. He'd been hit the most out of the three Slytherins, his head dripping with water as well as one of his sleeves. He tugged out his wand and began siphoning the water from his things, drying them with ease but unable to unsmudge the ink off one of his essays. He groaned, noting it was the one for Arithmancy, one of the more difficult classes the school offered. He'd have to rewrite the entire thing over again.

Deciding it was better to do this in the safety of the Slytherin common room later after classes, Cal shoved the rest of his stuff back into his bag and slung it up onto his shoulder. As he lifted his eyes to make sure the strap was going over his head, they caught upon someone standing at the banister to the third level of the library above.

It was a girl, with auburn hair that swept down her back in waves and covered half of her face. Her robes were trimmed with yellow… just a stupid Hufflepuff. She seemed to notice him spotting her and quickly turned heel, disappearing back into the depths of the upper bookcases. Huh. Normally Hufflepuffs weren't the type to go hiding, but then, they weren't exactly the brightest, were they? Still, there was something about that girl that struck him as being off, even if she was just another dumb Hufflepuff.

Cal shook his head and flicked some hair off of his forehead, heading for the library door where his friends were now waiting for him.

Later in the day, after reporting Hammald and Reading to Professor Harper and watching them get told off and given detention, Cal deemed it safe to return to the library. He did need access to several of the books there in order to rework his Arithmancy essay, it was still six inches too short.

"Ofrin, Baddock, you coming?" He asked as he shouldered his bag, looking at his friends sitting by the fire in the Slytherin common room. Both of them looked up from where they were playing a rousing game of Gobstones and shook their heads.

"Already finished all of my work." Lidia Baddock stated simply, rolling one of her Gobstones at one of David Ofrin's. She had had to change clothes after being hit by water balloons earlier and wasn't about to go traipsing back into the library any time soon anyway.

"No way, mate." Ofrin grimaced as one of his stones shot gunk at him. "I already had to spend half the day in wet shoes."

"Alright then." Cal shrugged and left, making his way up from the dungeons and along the corridors to the library. He looked around the room, seeking out a place that would not be so easily dive bombed. Once Hammald found a trick that worked, he typically did it a few more times before changing it up, no matter if he got in trouble or not.

Deciding it would be best to get the books he needed and head up to one of the upper levels of the library, Cal made his way over to the Arithmancy section. He grabbed out two large tomes from the shelves and carried them upwards. He came to the second level, but it was full of a rowdy bunch of fourth years Madam Pince hadn't come up to speak to yet. Her old knees kept her from going up and down the stairs as quick as she used to. So, opting out of the second level, Cal made his way up higher, to the less frequented third level. This was where all of the books hardly anyone bothered with were, since they were mostly how-to's, self helps, or ugh, of Muggle origin.

Well, at least no one would bother him up here.

Cal moved through the bookcases, looking for a table to work at. There didn't seem to be many places up here for working though. Deciding it best to search closer to the wall than to the banister that would look down upon the lower library levels, he made his way between the shelves of books until he reached the very back of the third level There was a single table here, pressed up against the wall with several chairs around it.

Smiling at his luck to find such a remote spot, Cal set down his back and books, getting out his smudged Arithmancy essay. He started scribbling and was just halfway through to being finished when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. Looking around, his eyes fell to a chair about ten feet away from his workplace, set into a small alcove in the wall that didn't quite conceal it. From where he was he could see a pair of folded legs and a book open upon the foot stool at the end of the chair, parchment resting on it as though whomever was there were doing their schoolwork.

Cal watched as the person leaned forward and found it was the same girl who had been watching from the third level banister earlier. That same stupid Hufflepuff. Her face was completely concealed behind a curtain of hair as one hand lifted the parchment up from the foot stool and disappeared back into the tiny alcove.

…...

Spicen heard footsteps, which was strange for this section of the library. Normally it was quiet and devoid of others for the entire time she was here, in her little alcove of happiness, where no one would bother her. It was even more peculiar when the footsteps seemed to come to a stop, and then a chair was drawn out from the nearby table and the sound of books on wood met her ears. Had someone decided to study up here? That was completely abnormal! The main reason she chose this spot was because it was so remote. It had been that way since her first year at Hogwarts.

Spicen waited to see if the person had made a mistake, but after a bit, when she heard no noise but a quill scratching upon parchment, she leaned forward a bit. Peering around the corner of her safe little alcove, Spicen's eyes fell upon the Slytherin boy from earlier sitting at the only table on the entire third level of the library. What was his name? She wasn't sure, but she was pretty positive he played Quidditch. But then, most of the older students always confused her name wise. She barely paid much attention to the girls in her own dorm, let alone an older boy from another house entirely.

As the boy's head moved, Spicen sat back quickly, not wanting him to see her, though she supposed, he would be able to see the front part of the chair. And then she waited.

Deciding it was safe after a few minutes, and really, what could he do to her? They were both just doing their schoolwork, nothing wrong with that. And it wasn't like she could leave until he had gone anyway. That would be even more nerve wracking than having him so close by. That had nothing to do with him being a Slytherin either. She simply was not a people person.

Spicen leaned forward and continued writing her essay, making sure her hair was in the way of her face. She always felt safer hiding behind her hair, which was one of the reasons she always kept it long and down. It was like she could see them through her locks, but they couldn't exactly see her since the spacing was so small.

"That cannot be good for your back."

Spicen bolted upright with a slight yelp. Having not been watching the boy, she hadn't seen him looking at her, and therefore, had not been expecting him to say anything. She pressed herself back in her chair, hiding again.

"Oh for Merlin's sake." Cal rolled his eyes. What a stupid Hufflepuff. It wasn't like he was going to bite her or anything. He'd simply stated that perhaps working in the chair like that wasn't going to do her back any good. Of course, he'd meant that to stay in his head, but it wasn't like it was a rude comment either. "You know, it's not like I'm some sort of monster just because I'm in Slytherin. You don't bother me, I won't bother you, got it?"

As he waited for a response, Cal glared at the girl's legs, the only part of her he could currently see. She had a bruise on one knee that looked like she'd tripped pretty hard on something or other. He heaved a sigh when she didn't respond and rose to his feet.

Spicen pushed herself back further in her chair as she heard the chair scraping back against to wooden floor. She quickly tilted her head to look down at her lap, her hair shrouding her face and her hands twisting up in the untucked hem of her shirt. She heard footsteps approaching and didn't look up when she felt the boy looming over her.

Cal stood there, looking down on this pathetic little Hufflepuff. She was quite scrawny actually, probably no more than a third year, but looking down at her books… No way was she already studying that! Transfiguration like that didn't come up until fifth year, which was just a year below him. Either she was really scrawny or really smart.

"Hey, I asked you a question, it's rude not to respond." He stated a little angrily. He hated it when people blatantly ignored things he said, especially because he was a Prefect. The Hufflepuff could have at least given him a one worded answer.

Spicen gulped, her lips moving but no sound really coming out. There was a bit of a 'sss' but that was about it. She hung her head more so, her eyes trained on her hands anxiously. The boy seemed to have heard her 'sss' though and tilted his head, raising one eyebrow at her.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"I-I-I un-und-d-der-st-stunnnn-d-d-d." Spicen stammered, her consonants coming out harder than the average person in her struggle to actually say them. Her whole face flooded with color and the Slytherin boy took a step back, away from her, his eyes wider than they had been.

So the rumors were true. Cal had thought that the Hufflepuffs in his Charms class had been exaggerating when he'd heard them talking about a girl in their house who stammered so bad everyone just called her 'Echo', even the professors. No one remembered her real name and whenever they tried to speak to her and make friends, well… apparently it was difficult. First you had to have the patience to listen, which most of the Hufflepuffs seemed to, but the girl, Echo, was about as skittish as a wild mare who'd been captured, beaten, and escaped.

Spicen bit her lower lip. Countless people from her house had tried to be her friend and help her with her stammering, but all had failed or given up in favor of their own group of friends. She didn't blame them though. She got fed up with herself enough as well… and normally she was too embarrassed of her stammering to say anything back to the kind people who tried to make friends with her. So she'd decided to stick to the library except for sleep, class, and meals, which she ate alone in one of the empty classrooms after getting food from the Great Hall. On the upside, her schoolwork always got done on time. On the downside… well… it got pretty lonesome when you were surrounded by people but no one really knew you.

"Right. Good then." Cal nodded in response, taking another step back and returning to the table nearby. He could have teased her, oh how he could have. He was particularly good at taking people's weaknesses and picking on them when he was with his friends. But there was just something so… wrong about picking on a girl like Echo. He could think of a thousands insults but then, what good would that do? In all likelihood she'd just run off crying and that was no fun. When he picked on someone he wanted to get at least a little bit of argument back. It was more fun that way.

Spicen heaved a sigh of relief as he left, her body relaxing back into the chair. She felt better now that that was over with. She wasn't the sort who was excellent at confrontations, it was always better to avoid those types of things if one could help it.

…...

As September faded into October, Cal began spending more time in the library on the third level. It was actually quite a wonderful work atmosphere up here, out of the way of other students who bothered him when he was actually trying to get his homework finished on time. His friends still preferred to stick to the bottom floor out in the open where they could easily joke around and pick on passersby when Madam Pince wasn't nearby. They teased Cal a bit about his study habits, but hey, they were also the ones asking to look at his work before they finished their own.

Spicen continued to frequent her safe little chair in the alcove, mostly doing homework or reading. Sometimes she would turn the chair backwards and stare out the tall window in-between pages. She liked the view of the grounds from the library. She could see the lake and the mountains beyond, currently covered in an array of autumn colors and slightly snowy caps. The sky stretched far, a crisp blue that made her feel warm as she curled up in her favorite armchair with an old Muggle book she had found in the fiction section.

Cal leaned back in his chair and peered at the Echo girl. When he'd come up the stairs about half an hour ago he'd found her using the footstool to scrambled over the back of the large chair to face the window. If he hadn't known she was there already, he would have assumed the chair to be empty. But then, he couldn't blame her really. It was a beautiful day out and as soon as classes ended for the day he would be heading outside to the pitch to practice his broom skills before the actual Slytherin team practice. He was a Beater, so it was always best to work on his skills extra. The better to avoid and chase after Bludgers.

She was still there, facing the window, not that he wouldn't have noticed if she'd moved. She was always in that chair when he came to the library, like she didn't do anything else almost. So long as classes weren't going on… and he'd even noticed that she was never in the Great Hall either. How was it that a Hufflepuff of all people seemingly spent so much time by themself?

The school bell rang, indicating the end of the lunch hour and that afternoon classes would start in ten minutes. Cal began packing up his things, putting his still partially inky quill away in his quill case so it didn't get on his things.

Spicen jumped slightly at the bell. She hadn't really been paying any attention to the time, being completely immersed in her book. She stood up on the chair and tossed the book down on the footstool before throwing one leg over the back and pushing herself over. Her first foot found the footstool alright. The shoelaces on her second foot caught in one of the chairs buttons as she pulled it over the chair. She gave her foot a tug, thinking she just hadn't lifted it high enough. Instead of her shoelace coming loose from the button, her foot came out of her shoe and her balance was lost. She fell forward, landing chin first on the floor, hands just not enough to completely stop her momentum in time, her legs still on the footstool from the knees down.

Cal turned as he heard a book clatter to the floor and the smack of chin on wood. He winced and dropped his bag back down on the table, moving the ten feet to where the Hufflepuff lay sprawled awkward on the floor. If her robes had been just an inch shorter he probably would have gotten a good shot of her underwear. Now, normally it was against his priorities to help out a Hufflepuff, but there was just something about this girl that made him feel sorry for her… just a little bit. "Eugh, are you alright?"

Spicen winced, her eyes screwing up as pain shot through her chin. Her eyes watered, but she did not cry, pushing herself up off of the floor and onto the footstool, nodding her head. She was quite surprised that the boy had actually stopped to see if she was okay. That was quite unusual.

"You're bleeding." The boy pointed at his chin and Spicen touched her own chin. It was wet and when she pulled back her fingers, quite bright red. "Here, let me…" The boy pulled an old fashion cloth handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her, but Spicen shook her head. No. She would not accept his help, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

Pushing herself up from the footstool, she pressed the sleeve of her robes against her chin to staunch the bleeding. Then she picked up the book and carried it over to the shelf she had taken it from and placed it away. Cal watched her curiously. Well, she seemed alright despite her bleeding chin.

Spicen returned, grabbing up her bag from the floor and shouldering it. Without a word or glance back she made her way through the bookshelves towards the stairs. Cal watched her go, quite flummoxed. Most girls he knew had always taken his help when they'd gotten hurt. Hell, he'd even acted as a crutch on several occasions, but then, those had always been girls in his own house.

Spicen made her way to the nearest bathroom, preferring to take care of her own injuries when she had a klutzy moment instead of going to the hospital wing. It was just… easier that way. She wouldn't have to explain anything. Besides, being Muggleborn, she knew how to fix things without magic well enough.

After washing her face, Spicen pressed a cold paper towel against the side of her jaw. She could move it alright, but it was still quite sore to have slammed her chin into the floor like that. The scrape wasn't too bad though and it had stopped bleeding now. After standing with the cold cloth against her face for a few minutes, her jaw started to feel a bit better. She dried her face and pulled a band-aid out of her bag. It was pink with little custard colored puffskeins dancing on it.. She pressed it on over her scrape and heaved a sigh as the potion in the white pad met her skin and soothed it. She'd found the band-aids in a shop in Diagon Alley, a place that catered to those not as adept at healing spells or those with children who were more sensitive to the stinging sensation a healing spell could cause when fixing up a cut. There, now hopefully she wouldn't be late for class.

Rushing down the stairs, Spicen made her way for the dungeons. Just two weeks ago, Professor Harper had suggested it to Headmistress McGonagall that Spicen take her Potions O.W.L earlier than the rest of her classmates. McGonagall had been wary of the idea, but had approved it, and Spicen had passed with flying colors. If there was one thing she was good at, it was Potions. It had been agreed that she could join the sixth year N.E.W.T level class and drop Divination which was at the same time. She now had the time the fifth year potion classes were free to do as she pleased.

Quite excited to be at the N.E.W.T level in her favorite subject, Spicen didn't want to be late for her first official sixth year class. She got there just as the last bell rang.

"Settle down, class, settle down" Professor Harper stated in his usual cheerful tone. The class quieted and he waved his wand at the blackboard. The chalk rose and began writing, large enough for them to read, but small enough to get all of the information up. "Today we will be continuing our discussion on the subtle properties of antidotes. Yes Baddock?"

"What is she doing here?" Lidia asked, pointing towards the front of the class where Spicen had taken up a seat by herself. The other students were in groups of three or four around their tables. "She's not a sixth year."

"Ah yes. Miss Echo has passed her Potions O.W.L early with outstanding marks, so she's joining our class. Now then, get out your cauldrons."

Lidia made what sounded like a grumble under her breath and whispered something to her friend Kelsy who sniggered behind her hand.

Cal got to class late, panting. He had forgotten to pack his Potions book that morning and had had to rush all the way down to the Slytherin dungeons and then back up to Potions. He slid into his seat next to Lidia quickly while Professor Harper turned around to grab his own book off of his desk.

"You're late, Mister Wilkes." Professor Harper stated without turning around, a smile playing on his lips. Of course he'd heard Cal enter the room and he knew who was missing from when he'd first looked around the room. The class wasn't exceptionally large, just the sixth years who had managed to pass their Potions O.W.L. with an E or higher. So there were only twelve students in his N.E.W.T level class as it was quite difficult to get above an A.

"Sorry, Professor." Cal sighed, glad he hadn't been given detention or had points taken. He wasn't usually late, he actually rather enjoyed learning depending on the subject and who taught it.

"Quite alright, Wilkes, just don't let it happen again. Now then class, as I was saying. Today we are going to continue our work with antidotes. You each will receive a poison. You must determine what the poison is, and then work on creating an antidote for it. All of the supplies you need can be found in the student storage cupboard." Harper strode about the room with a box, handing out a test tube full of potion to each student. "Do not drink your potion as some of these can kill you. However, if you do somehow ingest your potion, then you will receive a bezoar shoved down your throat and ten points subtracted from your house for pure stupidity. Now then, get started!"

The dungeon was full of the sound of chopping, stirring, and differently colored smoke or steam after that. Cal groaned, not quite sure what the potion he was supposed to be creating an antidote for was.

"Remember, the better you do, the better your grade, however, this is simply practice. I do not expect any of you to get it completely correct the first time through."

"Hey Wilkes, does this look like the Draught of Living Death to you?" Lidia asked, holding up her test tube.

"Er, not sure. Either that or a Salivating Solution. You know, that one that makes you choke on your own spit." Cal shrugged, eyeing his own test tube critically. He gave it a few prods with his wand and then sighed, shaking his head. Well, his best guess was a Paralysis Poison. Now what should he start with?

"Hey, Wilkes, watch this." Lidia said after a few minutes. She held up a dung bomb. "Let's see how smart that stupid Huffledork thinks she is now." She nodded towards Spicen and Cal blinked. Since when was she in their class?

Lidia tossed the dung bomb as soon as Harper's back was turned. It landed, dead on, in Spicen's cauldron.

The dung bomb exploded, sending dung and potion all over the classroom. It hit those closest to it, causing screams and havoc. Lidia and Cal were out of the range of fire, but Spicen got a face full. She let out a yelp as her face started to burn.

"Oh for goodness sake! Calm down all of you!" Harper shouted over the ruckus, heading for his desk and pulling out a large bottle. "Come here if you got sprayed, I'll sort you out."

Those nearest Spicen headed up front to the desk. Professor Harper poured the balmy potion out onto rags and handed them out. "Press the rag against the places you got hit, it'll stop the reaction of the potion on your skin."

As the class tended to their injuries, the noise calmed down and they were able to return to their cauldrons no worse for wear. Harper drenched a rag with the balmy potion and Spicen laid it over her face which had become very red and blotchy. She was lucky to have closed her eyes in time.

"What happened Miss Echo?"

Spicen shrugged, shaking her head and pressing the cloth tightly to her face. It felt amazing on her poor stinging skin. She wasn't sure what had happened. She hadn't added any ingredients to her cauldron that should have reacted that way at all. She'd just been measuring out some powdered bicorn horn to add when her partway done antidote had exploded like that.

"Well let's see." Professor Harper delved into the cauldron with a spoon. "What did you put in it?"

Spicen, her face feeling better now, removed the cloth from her face. She grabbed the leftovers of her ingredients so far and placed them down in order on the table. Harper looked confused for a moment as he peered into her now slightly melted cauldron. He bent over it and gave it a sniff.

"Alright, who threw the dung bomb? Fess up or you all have detention during the Quidditch match this Saturday."

"But Professor! It's the first match of the season! Slytherin versus Ravenclaw!" Cal's eyes went wide. He couldn't miss the first match! Sure, they had a reserve Beater, but still, a reserve was a reserve. They simply weren't as good as first string.

"Well then, someone had best admit to throwing the dung bomb into Echo's cauldron. Let's see. I know Reading likes pranks, but he's a lousy shot." Harper started going around the room, peering at his students. "It wasn't Fulby, Boot, Dayton, or Prewett because I was at their table when it happened. Echo wouldn't corrupt her own potion. Wilkes is a Prefect and unlikely to jeopardize his chances to play in the game this Saturday. Scamander and Morgan were at the storage cupboard. So that just leaves North, Baddock, and Illien."

"Wasn't me, Professor. I got covered too." Illien stated quickly, holding up her balmy potion rag. She was in the table closest to Spicen's with Morgan and North who nodded in agreement.

"Not me either, Professor." North shook his head now. "That stuff stung really bad and I'm not allowed dung bombs, my mum would flip."

"Yes, unlikely but still possible. Which leaves our main suspect. Baddock?"

"Ew, Professor. I'd never touch a dung bomb. Would I, Cal?"

"Er…" Cal faltered, looking at her and then the Professor. It was his duty as a Prefect to help keep order in the school, but Lidia was his friend. But then, he didn't want detention during the game… Hoping she would forgive him, Cal sighed. "She threw it."

"You snitch! Cal, you are such a-"

"Enough! Baddock, detention. Saturday morning starting at six am. I won't take any points off since you came clean about it, Wilkes."

"But Professor…!"

"Not another word, Baddock, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions. Now then, everyone back to work."

The rest of the lesson continued without fault. When the bell rang, the students poured their antidotes into phials and handed them in before cleaning up their things and leaving the dungeons. It was Friday, so most of them headed outside to enjoy the last of the light before the sun went down.

Wanting some fresh air, Spicen put her bag down in her dorm and hurried back upstairs to go take a little walk around the grounds. It was quite warm out, so she wandered along down by the lake, watching the water lap slightly up against the three feet of sand at it's edge. She strolled quite far away from the school building, breathing in the scent of fallen leaves and soon reaching the Forbidden Forest's edge. She had strayed into it once or twice before with Hagrid during Care of Magical Creatures lessons. The old grounds keeper was kind and didn't seem to mind it that she never really spoke. It was their kindred love for animals that made up their friendship.

Cal rose high up on his broom, knowing that his teammates would be down to the pitch within the next half an hour where they would have a good bit of time to practice before dinner. He could only practice with a couple of enchanted Muggle basketballs for now, since it didn't matter as much if they got lost. And if they did, well, they would go back to just being normal basketballs as soon as they left the Hogwarts grounds.

As he whacked one of the basketballs hard away from his head, his caught some movement in the corner of his eye. Thinking it was the other basketball, Cal spun around in the air, but found it was no more than someone walking along the grounds. There were plenty of students milling around at the edge of the lake, soaking up the last rays of sun the day had to offer.

As his eyes trained in on the figure who had caught his eyes, Cal realized they were getting awfully close to the forest. Being a Prefect and noting that the student was probably a third year or so, he decided it was his duty to remind them that the forest was off limits for safety reasons. With a wave of his wand, the basketballs fell to the grass, their enchantment broken. Cal shot off on his broom, landing a distance away from the student. He dropped his broom and Beater's bat and broke into a run just as the small robed figure entered the forest.

Spicen took a deep breathe, loving the scent of the earth and leaves around her. Oh how she loved the forest and it's tangling branches and shrubs. She knew it was against school rules, but then, it was still light out and she wasn't wandering far, just enough so she could admire the leaves. Then she would head right back on out. That wouldn't be too bad, would it?

Stopping about ten feet into the forest, Spicen fingered a bright red leaf, admiring it. It was so insanely pretty, much prettier than any of the other trees' leaves that she could see from here. What kind of tree was this? To have such wonderfully brightly colored leaves?

"Oi!" Cal came running down the path and nearly ran into Spicen, sliding to a stop on the leafy ground of the forest. He paused, staring at her in shock. "You! You're not supposed to be in here! Get out now."

Spicen blinked, staring at him. He'd come out of nowhere and given her a bit of a fright, but his demanding tone set her off. Who was he to tell her what to do? This was the boy who had invaded her area of the library. Wilkes, his name was. She'd heard the other Hufflepuffs talking about him before, how he picked on them and had even made Marble McGadden cry once. Stubborn as a mule, Spicen shook her head and kept walking. No way was she going to listen to him.

"Hey Huffledork! Are you stupid or something? We can't be in here, it's dangerous." Cal groaned, watching her continue down the path, heading deeper into the forest. He followed after her, reaching out an arm to grab her by the wrist, but she spun around abruptly, glaring at him. He glared right on back, until Spicen lifted her arms. She folded them against her sides and began waving them at him… almost like some kind of bird…. "Hey! I'm not chicken, it's against the school rules to be in the forest, Mudblood."

Oh now that did it! Spicen reached out one hand and slapped him hard across the face. How dare he call her a Mudblood! Oh the nerve! "D-d-d-d-d!" She spat at him, her words getting stuck in her throat and making it impossible for her to properly yell at him.

"What the hell!?" Cal yelled right back at her, clutching his face, slightly shocked that she had actually slapped him. He watched as she continued to keep walking, straying farther and farther away from the safety of the open grounds and castle.

Spicen marched at this point, absolutely refusing to turn around so long as he was telling her to do so. There was no way she was going to do what he said, especially after calling her a Huffledork and Mudblood, even though the canopy overhead was getting thicker and thicker by the minute and the sun's rays were disappearing fast. It would be dark out within the next ten minutes or so. But she figured, so long as she stayed on the path…

Cal groaned, knowing he had no choice but to follow her at this point and keep trying to convince her to turn around. He'd have left her and gone to get help, but then, what if something happened to her because he wasn't there? He was older than her after all, he knew more defensive spells and things.

"Listen, we have to go back. It's going to be dark any minute now and it'll be even more dangerous to be in here. There are all sorts of creatures that could-" Cal's words trailed away as something to their right made the shrubbery rustle. A pair of bright red eyes shown through the leaves.

With a yell of fright, Spicen took off, turning around and racing down the path, Cal at her heels, both of them tripping over roots here and there. After tripping on one of these roots, Spicen's sense of direction went wobbly. Instead of sticking to the path, her legs took her down a narrower one, most likely created by deer. Cal followed after her, both of their legs getting caught in brambles and pricker bushes as they ran, heading deeper into the forest now instead of out of it.

When the fear of that red eyed thing had subsided a bit, Spicen slowed her pace, pausing to catch her breath. Cal heaved, leaning against a nearby tree and looking around, sweat dripping down his face. "I think we lost the path."

Spicen groaned, nodding her head and looking around. The ground here was so thick with brambles she couldn't tell which way would take them back to the main path and the castle. And it was so dark now. She could barely make out the whites in Wilkes's eyes at this point.

Cal seemed to be thinking the same thing because he pulled his wand from his pocket. "Lumos." It helped a little, but not by much. Spicen did the same, lighting her wand without speaking. She'd never been able to properly speak an incantation but with a lot of help from Professor Flitwick in her first year, she'd managed to get non-verbal spells down.

"Well then, it doesn't look like we're going to be getting out of here any time soon. Nice going, Mudblood." Cal groaned, noting that nothing in this section of the forest looked familiar. "We'll probably be stuck in here all night."

Spicen shivered looking around. He was probably right. There was no way they could go traipsing through the forest in the dark. It would probably be safer just to stay put where they were and wait until daybreak when the sun would hopefully give them a little more light to see by. Then they could work on wending their way out through the forest based on how thick the canopy was. But for now, well… they were stuck.

* * *

><p>Why hello there! If you've reached down this far, that means you might have actually read the words up above which means I am very grateful for your interest in picking this particular story to read! Either that or you were bored and just picked one at random or some friend dared you to read an OCOC fic, or, in an even rarer case, I might actually be on your list of author alerts. Whatever the reason that you ended up here, I'm happy you did!

This story is a bit different from the usual stuff I do, and I've actually been working on it for quite some time now and trying to decide whether to post it up or not, though the answer to that is obvious since you're reading this. Anyway, I really, really hope you liked it. I'm insanely fond of this one. I would love, love, loooove to hear your thoughts on it if you've got a moment to spare, especially on whether you think I should continue it or not, although, you've only read one third of what's written for it so far.

Sorry about the long A/N, I do that sometimes on first chapters.

Love always,  
>S.Q.O.<p> 


	2. Dirt

Disclaimer: JK Rowling's a BAMF.

**The Third Tier**

**_Chapter Two: Dirt and Brambles and Arguments, oh my!_**

Great. Just wonderful. Spicen sighed, looking around the dark forest where the only light was that from her and the Slytherin boy's wands. Well, admittedly it was partly her fault they were caught in this mess. If she hadn't wandered deeper into the forest and then accidentally run off the proper path, they would probably be back up at the castle right now. But he had made her really very angry which hadn't helped either. He'd been quite pushy and rude.

Cal was not happy, not at all. He was going to be stuck in the forest full of dangerous creatures all night with this crazy chick. Because that's what she must be to have gotten them into this mess. And she couldn't even speak properly! Eugh, this was nerve wracking. "Well, we should probably see if there's someplace nearby that we can use as a shelter at least. We'll freeze out in the open like this."

Spicen nodded in agreement, even though she didn't want to admit that he was right about anything at this point. A shelter would be safer than just standing here doing nothing and looking like easy bait. And warmer too. She hadn't worn her cloak and her robes weren't exactly new having come from the secondhand shop in Diagon Alley. She rose her wand higher, looking around the part of the forest she could see in the light from it, stepping cautiously forward, trying not to make any noise for fear that it would attract some beasty.

"Over here." Cal whispered, motioning towards a large tree. Spicen wandered over slowly, peering down to where he was pointing. Beneath the trunk of the tree was a large hole. Cal crouched down and stuck his wand into it but the light did not quite penetrate the darkness inside.

Eyeing the hole, Spicen noticed an old tuft of custard colored fur on a nearby stick. She picked it up, eyeing it and then pointed at the hole. She knew what this was. She tapped on Cal's shoulder to get his attention better, not wanting to have to explain using her words. Once he looked at her, she tapped the band-aid on her chin and then pointed back at the hole.

"Puffskeins? A puffskein burrow?" Cal laughed. "Well, it shouldn't be too deep then, should it? And even if there's any in there, there's no danger from a puffskein!"

Spicen nodded enthusiastically. Boy, they were lucky to have found this type of burrow instead of something else. Puffskeins loved safe little burrows, especially ones with hard to see entrances, like this hole among the tree roots. And they were probably the least formidable of creatures they could meet in the forest. Puffskeins were cuddly and adorable.

Cal gallantly went first, feet dangling down until they hit the floor. He could reach the entrance with his hands if he had them above his head, so it was a pretty straight downwards shot with just a bit of an angle. He shone his wand around, but the burrow was empty. It was large though, which made plenty of space for a puffskein's large litter and the high ceiling was for their ability to bounce so high. The hole would be easy for a puffskein to get in and out of, but not for a predator. And it was perfect for a couple of teenagers.

"It's empty." Cal called back up and Spicen slid down into the hole, swaying a little bit on her landing but otherwise fine. It was no doubt that the burrow would be much warmer and safer than being out in the open forest.

"Here…" Cal cleared a space in the center of the floor of the burrow and then created a small round ring of dirt before pointing his wand at it. Blue flames shot out, landing in the middle of the ring which would keep them from spreading, not like it was going anywhere in the first place, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Glad for the fire, Spicen sat down close to it, pulling her robes tightly around herself and letting it warm her. The temperature had dropped a lot from that afternoon, but then, it was the middle of October now. The days were only going to get colder at this point. She sat down and huddled closer to the fire, the warmth of it spreading over her body welcomingly. Her stomach gave a grumble, but she ignored it, knowing it was of no use to even bother thinking about food when they obviously were stuck at least until morning.

Cal leaned against one of the walls of the burrow, letting the warm fire encase him in it's warmth. Soon the whole hole in the ground was warmer than it had been by a considerable amount and he stood up, heading over to the entrance. Spicen eyed him curiously as he hoisted himself back up and out of the hole. She rose, wandering over to see what was going on when he came sliding back in, dragging a large leafy branch over the hole.

"Camouflage." Cal explained upon seeing her confused expression. "We don't want anything finding the hole." Spicen nodded in agreement. Okay, so he wasn't all that terrible. He had found them a place to spend the night, made them a fire, and then covered the hole up. She did have to admit it was her fault they were stuck out in the forest in the first place after all. Not that she was going to bring that subject up any time soon.

They sat in silence for a while, neither one ready to go to sleep. It was still fairly early, even if it was already dark outside. Cal felt his stomach give a gurgle and he groaned, breaking the silence.

"It's dinner time." Cal sighed and dug into his Quidditch robe pockets, hoping he had something, anything to eat in there. He pulled his pockets inside out and sighed again. There was nothing but a few bits of paper containing plays he was supposed to have memorized since last practice. Speaking of which, his teammates were probably wondering why he hadn't been at the pitch. What would they think when he didn't turn up in the dorm tonight? But then, they'd probably assume he was off sleeping with one of the Slytherin girls again.

Spicen nodded, knowing how he felt. She was hungry as well, but she could deal with the gnawing feeling in her stomach for a while yet, having done so before in the past plenty of times. It was a familiar feeling, though not one she was as used to having during the school year since there was always plenty of food to eat during mealtimes. Still, she, too, began digging into her robe pockets, seeing if she had anything they could eat within them. She came up with a notepad, a Muggle pen, a couple of old quills, and a few knuts. She sighed, shaking her head in defeat. She had nothing edible in her pockets either.

"Well, looks like we'll just have to wait it out." Cal grimaced and eyed the ground apprehensively. He'd never had to sleep in dirt before, but it didn't look like he had much of a choice tonight. "Well, I guess… we should just go to bed, eh Mudblood?"

Spicen glared at him and rose to her feet, angry. She hated his use of the word 'Mudblood', it was insanely offensive. Her lips quivered with force, her eyes blaring fire as she kicked dirt at him in her rage. "D-d-don't-t-t-t c-c-call….!" Her voice caught, stuck in her throat again, but her glare was still fiery. Her cheeks were pink, eyes narrowed, lips pursed. Cal stared up at her, eyebrow raised.

"How am I possibly supposed to take you seriously when you can't even finish a full sentence, Huffledork?"

That tore it. Spicen kicked him squarely in the stomach. Cal coughed a couple of times, wincing. It hadn't been that hard of a kick, but it still hurt bad enough to render him voiceless for a couple of seconds. He glared back up at her and sat up, pushing himself up off of the ground. "Listen here you! It's your own damn fault we're stuck in this damn hole in the ground without any food for the night! If you hadn't been so impulsive and stubborn…!"

"Sh-sh-shut-t-t-t…!" Spicen clenched her fists, her body shaking, eyes watering. She knew it was her fault, but hearing him say it made it all the more worse. Her body shivered and she clenched her teeth with anger, biting down on the side of her cheek to keep from screaming and lashing out. It wouldn't help anything to do so. Sure, it'd make her feel better, but then where would she be? He could easily just hurt her back.

"What? Cat got your tongue, Huffledork?" Cal goaded her, his pride bruised at having been kicked in the stomach. His voice was sneering, a scathing display of extra loathing. Now he remembered why he hated Hufflepuffs. They were just bloody annoying. He didn't feel bad of making fun of her now, especially after that little display. "You can't even speak properly, what makes you think you're good enough to be called anything but a Mudblood?"

Spicen didn't respond this time. His words hurt, cutting her right down straight to the core. She had always been very self conscious about the way she spoke, unable to really help it no matter how much she tried. She couldn't make friends. She couldn't even go to the Hospital Wing or speak privately with her teachers when she needed help. But no one had picked on her about it so intensely as he was now since she'd been little.

Instead of fighting him more, Spicen turned away, moving back around to the other side of the fire and then to the farthest bit of wall away from him that she could get to. She laid down on the dirt floor and curled up inside her robes, her back to him. She pulled her hood up over her head, tucking her legs up beneath her robes, shivering now that she was away from the fire. It gave off warmth, but the ground was still cold. Cal watched her, not feeling a single ounce of remorse for angering her. His stomach hurt and that just fueled his anger.

Still though, a girl shivering…

Cal heaved a sigh and waited, watching Spicen. She continued to shake, but otherwise, her breathing slowed and she seemed to be asleep. Cal shucked off his Quidditch robes and rose from where he sat in the dirt wearing nothing but his pants and a sweater now. He draped the robes over the sleeping girl, knowing they were thick, made to wear in any weather. He'd be fine sleeping close to the fire.

Cal moved back around to the opposite side of the burrow, laying down on the ground near the fire but not so close that he'd get burned were he to roll over in his sleep. He curled up, letting the warmth of the fire envelope him and the flickering of the blue flames lulling him into oblivion.

It was the chirping of a bird that woke Spicen. She rolled over, stretched out on the dirt floor of the burrow and sitting up. She yawned and went to rub at her eyes, but found both her hands much to dirty to do so. Heaving a sigh, she groaned and stood up, the green Slytherin robes that she'd been under falling off of her. She blinked, looking down at them and then over at Cal who was curled up not too far away. He looked much more… kind, when he was sleeping. She reached down and picked up the robes, brushed them off and carried them over to his sleeping form. She covered him and moved to the entrance of the burrow, looking up at the hole. She could see a bit of light streaming down through the branches that had been placed over the entrance, so it must be morning now.

Spicen moved her way back over to Cal and prodded him gently with her toe. She felt a little bad about kicking him now, since he'd given her his robes to sleep under, but it still didn't quite cancel out his words that had made him deserve the kick in the first place.

Cal groaned and sat up, his face smudged with dirt. He looked bleary eyed up at Spicen and then pulled on his robes, standing up and looking around the burrow. Spicen pointed to the entrance where a slight bit of light was shining through and he nodded. He extinguished the fire he'd made last night and without speaking, they moved over to the entrance.

Cal reached up, grabbing the edge of the burrow hole and hoisting himself upwards, until his feet were dangling and he could peek out through the branches he had used to camouflage their hole. He pushed them back a bit, wedging his toes into the dirt wall to keep himself from slipping down as he was only holding on with one arm now. He peered around the early morning forest, the trees sparkling with dew.

Upon not seeing anything that looked remotely dangerous, Cal slipped back down into the burrow. "I think it's safe. C'mon, I'll give you a hand up." He stated this simply, as he noticed, for the first time, how much shorter this Hufflepuff was than him. No way would she be able to reach the entrance to the burrow without help. He kneeled down and cupped his hands together. Spicen placed one foot into his hands and pushed down while he pushed her up. She grabbed hold of the edge of the hole and scrambled up the best she could, her feet kicking at the dirt walls.

Cal stood up, and as he did so, his frame came to rest between Spicen's legs, her skirt falling awkwardly into his face as his body pressed Spicen further upwards using his shoulders.

Spicen let out a gasp, surprised at his extra boost and managed to grab hold of a root. She pulled herself out of the hole a bit more, using his shoulders as steps for her feet before pressing both of her hands into the dirt and pressing upwards until she fell forward. With most of her body out of the burrow now, Spicen scrambled her legs out and stood up and back, watching as Cal grabbed the edges and pulled himself out with ease. All of his years spent being a Beater had given him excellent strength in his arms, as well as the rest of his body. His core had to be strong enough to hold him with sometimes no hands on his broomstick, as did his legs, so it was vital that he be strong, otherwise there was a bigger chance of him falling off of his broomstick when striking out at a Bludger.

"Well then…" Cal brushed off the front of his sweater, though it was rather pointless with the amount of dirt that had gotten on it over the night. He grimaced, fastened his robes, and looked around the forest, his eyes trailing slowly.

Spicen looked around, her eyes lifting to the canopy instead of their surroundings. She looked, noting how thick the trees were here. It wasn't that bad, which meant they couldn't be too far away from the edge at this point. If they went deeper it'd get darker. She spun around, eyeing the trees around them now and then pointing to where they where they seemed to be thinner.

Cal peered that way as well, and after comparing it to the trees in the opposite direction, he nodded. "Yeah, I think that's probably the way out as well. C'mon Huffledork."

Spicen glared at him but otherwise did not respond. As soon as they got out of the forest she'd be rid of him except for potions class, and that would be that. It would be so much nicer than the past twelve or so hours had been.

As they forced their way through brambles and tree branches, Spicen began wishing she were at least wearing pants. Her skirt and robes kept catching and her legs were not going to be thanking her in half an hour when the cuts from the brambles showed up like cat scratches. If she had been wearing pants she could have at least taken off her robes, but the fact remained that they were giving her, if little, extra protection against the brambles at the moment, even if they were worn out and frayed already.

"Merlin's pants, walk faster!" Cal growled, turning around for what felt like the fifth time. He heaved a sigh as he found Spicen struggling to detach some of her hair from a branch that had decided if wanted to be friends. He griped and stomped back over to her, reaching out and pulling the branch, and her hair, free. Spicen winced, but did not complain, having been unable to reach the branch very well to see how her hair was trapped. "How is it, that one person, can manage to get so caught up in everything?"

Spicen just glared, not bothering to even attempt and answer that one. Once she was free she started walking again, not wanting to even try and make conversation. She just wanted out of this wretched forest and back to the safety of her chair in the library. And perhaps a shower would be a good idea as well. She could feel the dirt in her hair.

Cal followed her now, letting her set the pace and grumbling under his breath every time she seemed to get caught on something. With his pants and longer legs, he was able to get through the underbrush better than she was, with nothing standing between her skin and the prickles but a pair of thin knee high socks. But the brambles were beginning to thin, as was the canopy above. They would be out of the forest soon, and safe from the beasts within.

"There!" Cal pointed, nearly jumping for joy as one of the castle's tower came into view from between the trunks of the trees. It was a lovely sight. Spicen picked up her pace, working on crashing through the brambles more now, not caring about getting her legs cut up in them. They were nearly there!

And then, the trees stopped and they were on the edge of the grounds, not too far from the lake.

"We made it!" Cal cheered. Spicen laughed, spinning in a circle, glad to be out of the forest and back to where she knew for certain they were safe. Oh what a lovely feeling it was. Pure relief and joy.

They made their way back up to the castle, nearly running, torn robes flying out behind them, black and green. Upon reaching the front doors, they slowed and carefully, entered. It was still early after all, and though it probably wasn't too early for them to be up, it would definitely not do for them to be caught wandering in looking as disheveled as they were. People might get the wrong idea.

"Well Professor, I was just wondering if you'd seen Wilkes? He never showed up for practice last night. We found his broom discarded on the grounds not far from the pitch though. That's unlike him to just leave it lying there. And no one else has seen him since classes yesterday either."

"Shit." Cal murmured. He grabbed hold of Spicen's arm and dragged her up the marble stair case just as two figures came striding out of the stair well that led down to the dungeons.

The two dirty students raced around the corner and behind a tapestry that covered a well known stair case that would lead directly to the third floor. They raced up it without a word, not stopping until they had reached the top which was concealed by yet another tapestry.

"We can't go back down there looking like this." Cal groaned, eyeing the bits of twig caught in Spicen's hair. "I'm a Prefect… the rumors.. If anyone sees us they'll think we met up and were doing… things all night. Like… sex things." He continued upon seeing the slightly confused look on Spicen's face. Her eyes widened and she let out a little groan.

"Sh-sh-sh-show-w-werrrr." She managed, her brow narrowing as she fought with her vocal cords and mouth.

"Right." Cal nodded in agreement. He peered out from behind the tapestry, and noting that no one was coming from either direction, they left, running down the third floor corridor and then up to the fourth floor where there were bathrooms. Just as they were about to reach the bathrooms though, voices came from the opposite end of the hall.

"No Mister Filch, I do not know why there would be a cloud of dirt and dust underneath the tapestry in the Entrance Hall, perhaps it needs a dusting?" Headmistress McGonagall's voice sounded slightly irritable.

"I just dusted all the tapestries yesterday, ma'am, just like every other third Friday o'the month."

"Well then, perhaps Peeves…"

"Urgh, c'mon." Cal groaned. He and Spicen turned back around, heading up more sets of stairs to the fifth floor now, Cal leading the way. The last two people they wanted to get caught by would be McGonagall and Filch. They'd get detention, points taken, and a permanent spot in Filch's files for 'befouling' the castle. "I know a safe place."

Spicen stared at him inquiringly but did not ask as he grabbed hold of her hand and tugged her quickly around another corner. They passed by a statue and kept going until they'd reach the fourth door from it. Cal knocked on the door.

"Codswalloping." He stated simply and the door sprang to life, opening. Cal dragged Spicen inside and she let out a gasp, staring around the room in shock as the door clicked, locking behind them. It would not open until they decided to leave.

The room was large, with a huge sunken spot in the middle, like an empty pool. There was a rack of fluffy white towels hanging nearby the stairs into the pool. As she took in their surroundings, Cal went around the tub, turning on each one of the hundred golden taps that sat along the edges of the tub. Understanding now what he was doing, Spicen backed up against the wall next to the door, shaking her head.

"N-no."

Cal looked up and heaved a sigh. "Have you seen yourself? Look in the mirror. No way you can make it all the way back downstairs dressed like that without someone getting suspicious. You don't even have to take your clothes off, Mudblood. Just get clean."

Spicen did as he said and turned, eyeing herself in the long mirror that took up the entire wall behind her. She was covered in dirt from sleeping in the burrow, her hair a tangled mess, clothes torn in places from pushing her way through the forest where there was no path. He was right of course. She couldn't go wandering around the castle like this, especially not trying to get all the way from the fifth floor down to the Hufflepuff Burrow as it was fondly called. She'd be caught for sure!

Knowing there wasn't much of a choice now, she started helping him turn the taps, not knowing what they did really until she opened the first one and bubbles poured out. They were pretty, blue and floating about just high enough for one to catch from the water but not landing. Spicen let out a small laugh, reaching out one dirty hand to poke at a bubble. It didn't pop, but rather, landed on her finger. She smiled, blowing it off and continuing to turn on the taps.

Once the tub was full of warm water in all different colors that swirled like a rainbow and a matching froth of bubbles that were just as different, the taps for the water turned themselves off and the bubbles continued to flow. Spicen smiled, unable to help it. The tub looked so inviting and enchanting right now. The water had to be warm, she could see the steaming coming up off of it… it would be a pleasant difference from the night of sleeping on cold dirt and being chilly all this morning.

"Well then…" Cal smiled and took off his shoes, belt, and tie. Then, without bothering to take off anything else, he jumped into the giant tub. A splash of water and bubbles went up and Spicen watched as he went under.

When Cal resurfaced, Spicen sat down at the edge of the tub and took off her shoes and tie. She was still unsure about this but the water and bubbles looked so inviting… she couldn't resist it. She hadn't had a real proper bath in years, just regular showers. And this… this bath was going to be the best one yet, at least, it looked pretty awesome.

Once her shoes were off, Spicen slid into the tub, her robes floating up around her as her feet found the bottom. Alas, her head went right under and she flailed, pushing herself up and coughing slightly, having not expected it to be over her head. But then, she was short for her age, hitting the chart at just under five feet which was not typical of the rest of the students here who had reached age fifteen.

"Geez, you're so scrawny, Huffledork." Cal noted aloud this time, raising an eyebrow at her. He, himself, had already stopped growing, hitting exactly six feet, which was normal for his family. He watched as Spicen grabbed hold of the edge of the tub and wiped bubbles off of her face. She moved herself over to the stairs and pulled off her robes as they just kept dragging her down. She also grabbed at her stockings, which were mostly torn up now, and set them aside, leaving herself just in her shirt and skirt.

Spicen splashed at Cal, but it was playful. His words hadn't been mean, just observant. He swam over and pulled off his own robes, swishing them through the water and then setting them off to the side of the tub, dripping wet but clear of any dried dirt they'd had on them. They'd be washed later. Upon thinking about it though, he shucked off his shirt next and then, his pants. He needed to get clean and there was no way he was going to be able to do it wearing all of his clothes. And it wasn't like his underwear was going to show off anything when it was beneath a thick layer of bubbles.

Spicen covered her eyes, pushing off the stairs and floating herself to the opposite side of the tub, nervous that his underwear might go next, but she calmed when it didn't. Her white shirt was soaked through, but the tank top she wore under it kept anything from really being shown and she was glad of that.

Cal came up, scrubbing at his hair with his fingers, trying to get the dirt particles loose from it and shaking his head about. He looked quite silly, Spicen thought, but then, she supposed he had the right idea. She dunked herself and started scrubbing as well. Something in the bubbles made her hair lather and she scrubbed harder, trying to get the tiny grains of dirt she could feel on her scalp off. She kept scrubbing until she felt clean and then dunked herself again, the bubbles rinsing out easily as though they were magic, which, on second thought, they probably were.

"Merlin, that is so much better." Cal smiled, relishing the feeling of no longer having dirt in his hair or fingernails. He was pretty much clean now, no longer covered with smudges of dirt. Parts of his hands were scratched up from pushing through the pricker bushes but other than that he was fine.

Spicen had not made it out so unscathed though. Her legs were all cut up with scratches from pushing through the brush. They strung as she climbed out of the tub and reached for her wand, clothes dripping all over the stone tile floor. She pulled her wand from the pocket of her wet robes and pointed it at her shirt first, aiming warm air from it, trying to dry her clothes off the best she could. It would definitely take some time though.

"That's never going to get dry that way." Cal remarked, reaching for a towel as he too, climbed out of the tub. He quickly wrapped it around his waist, not wanting his now sopping boxers to expose anything. Of course, he'd been with several girls before, but not a single one of them had been so… innocent as this Hufflepuff seemed to be. He doubted she even knew what it was like to be kissed.

Cal grabbed up his wand too, but instead of pointing it at himself, he aimed it at Spicen, giving it a wave. The water in her clothes began separating from the fabric, siphoned away by the spell. Spicen joined in once she realized what he was doing, and in very little time her clothes were mostly dry. Still damp in a few places, but that she could deal with. They set to work drying Cal's clothes next, and once that was done, they would finally be able to return to their dorms.

Cal grinned, pulling on his slightly torn Quidditch robes and shaking the water out of his hair. He was glad to be clean, but even happier that he would finally be able to get something to eat! Breakfast would be just starting and he would have to come up with some sort of lie in order to cover up where he had been all night. "You know, Huffledork, you're not too bad."

Spicen huffed, sticking her tongue out at him. "M-my n-naaaame's n-not-t-t-t…!" She spat out, displeased with him. Sure he had been nice and helped her get her clothes dry and stuff. And he'd given her his robes to sleep under last night, but that didn't mean he could call her rude names and get away with it. "S-slyth-therrr-a-ass!"

Cal stared at her, his expression slightly shocked for a moment before he burst out laughing. She looked so insanely pissed and serious in that moment that he couldn't help it. Spicen's auburn hair was dripping wet, hanging down her back, her lips pursed beneath freckled cheeks, arms crossed over her chest, strange colored eyes blazing. And yet, Cal never thought she looked more hilariously adorable than she did now… adorable? Where had that come from? Well… she was pretty small for her age. She was neither remarkably pretty nor beautiful and she wasn't too noticeably curvy… so the word adorable did sort of fit, in a strange way. It was like looking down at a half drowned bird, it's feathers all wet and yet you couldn't help but smile because they were so small.

"D-d-don'ttt!" Spicen glared, his laughter only angering her further. He was picking on her and she didn't like that in the least. It was mean and hurtful even though she should have been used to it by that point. People picked on her on a regular basis but none of them had been so outward about it as this stupid Slytherin!

"I'm only joking, Huffledork." Cal laughed, unable to stop now. "If your name isn't Huffledork, what is it? It's not really Echo, right? That's just a nickname."

Spicen blinked, her face unshrunching. No one else had ever really asked her her name before… even the teachers just called her Echo or Miss Versailles without thinking about it. She stared at Cal perplexedly before her lips moved, sputtering a bit. "Sp-sp-sp…" She struggled, the word odd on her own lips. She'd never really used it before and could only ever remember having heard it coming from the mouth of her mother when she was small. She sighed when it wouldn't come out and the frowned.

Cal frowned as well. What must it be like to not even be able to say your own name? He actually felt bad for her now and pondered this over in his head. He had never really felt bad for someone before, not to this degree at least. Normally it was just a twinge of pity, but this was different. It was like he actually cared about her feelings or something, which was an absolutely outrageous idea to begin with. "What if you spell it?"

There was an idea. Spicen nodded and her mouth moved. Letters she could do fairly simply. "E-essss… p-peeee…. Aiiii-eeee. C-c-cee. E-eee. Ennnnnnn-ah."

"Spiken?" Cal asked, looking confused now. What kind of person named their kid Spiken?

"N-no. C-ceee. Sssss." Spicen shook her head and a look of knowing came over Cal's face.

"Spicen?" He asked, somewhat hopeful he'd gotten it right this time.

Spicen nodded, her eyes widening. How many years had it been since she had been called by her real name? Not since she'd sat under the Sorting Hat at least and that was about five years ago now. It was strange to hear it spoken by someone at all really. It felt wonderful… someone finally knew her name.

"Spicen. Sounds like spice but with an 'n' at the end… Weird." Cal pondered it. It was a strange name. He had never heard anything like it before and that was coming from a pure-blooded wizard. Everyone knew that wizards typically had the weirdest of names so the fact that a Muggleborn had an abnormal name threw him off a bit. "Well then, Spicen the Huffledork. My name is Callahan Wilkes, though I'm sure you already knew that."

Spicen snorted, covering her mouth with her hands to try and prevent herself from laughing. It didn't work very well though. She gave a giggle and then her hands fell as she broke down, chortling and bending in half. She clutched at her stomach, her eyes almost leaking. Why she found his name so impossibly funny she didn't know, but she did. What kind of name was Callahan anyway? It sounded very old fashioned and more of a surname than anything else.

Cal frowned, his jaw clenched as he watched her laugh at him. "Is my name funny to you?"

Spicen nodded and then shook her head before nodding again. She couldn't help it. It had been such a long night without food and she always seemed to get extra giggly when her stomach was empty. However, it wasn't very often that something was able to trigger a fit of laughter in her like this. "C-c-c-cal-la-la-la-h-han-nnnn."

"It's a family name." Cal stated, feeling a bit off put by her laughter. He did have to admit though, it was much nicer seeing her face light up with happiness as opposed to the usual emotions he typically saw upon it. Actually, he didn't think he'd ever actually even seen Spicen smile before. She was always either glowering at him or looking incredibly anxious over something or other. "Look at your name. It's like someone was trying to think of something unique and just made something up."

Spicen paused in her laughter for a moment before she nodded and burst into another fit of giggles. She loved her name, but she had thought of it that way before. When she was little she had once asked her mother what the origin of her name was. Her mother had told her that Spicen was supposed to just be Spice, but unfortunately, in a post-demurral haze during the naming process, her mother had slurred her words. She had said 'Spice and Guinevere' but it had come out as 'Spice'n'Guinevere'. She'd never bothered to get it fixed though, preferring Spicen over Spice.

"Really?" Cal asked as he succumbed to his own laughter. That was the thing about the giggles: they were contagious. Their laughter echoed off the walls of the large room.

A banging upon the bathroom door overcame the sound of laughter and both students fell silent, looking up with wide eyes in the direction of the door.

"Are you in there, Cal?"

Recognizing the voice of his friend, Sam Ofrin, Cal heaved a sigh of relief, putting a finger to his lips, indicating to Spicen that she should be quiet. He made his way over to the door.

"Yeah, it's me. What's up?"

"We've been looking for you all over the place, mate! Why didn't you come to practice?"

"Er… I got a little side tracked.

"Have you got a girl in there? I heard laughing."

"Yeah, how else would I get side tracked?" Cal let out a chuckle. "Listen, I'll be finished in a bit, so I'll meet you at breakfast."

"Alright, mate." Ofrin called back and they could hear his footsteps headed back down along the hallway. Cal waited until the footsteps were gone until he turned back to Spicen. She had her hands over her mouth, though she was so quiet in general there wasn't much of a point to it.

"Well, I'll go make sure the coast is clear. We don't want anyone to see us coming out of here together or they're make assumptions." Cal explained as he shoved his feet into his shoes and made his way over to the door. Spicen just nodded in agreement and followed him. She waited behind the door as he opened it and peeked out into the corridor beyond. It was early enough still that not many people were up. The hallway was safely empty.

"Alright. It's safe." Cal stepped out into the hallway and Spicen followed slightly hesitantly. She really didn't want anyone to see them leaving a bathroom, especially the Prefects' bathroom with it's large luxurious tub. The last thing she needed to have added to her already awkward reputation was that she was possibly a slut.

Once the door had closed behind them, Cal turned to look at Spicen. "I guess I'll see you in Potions then, Huffledork." He grinned when she glowered at his use of that word again, but then her glower was faded out by the very obvious grumbling of her stomach. "I'll go the long way round. You can take the short route, that way there's five minutes between us getting to the Great Hall."

Spicen nodded and turned to the left while Cal turned to the right. He paused, looking over his shoulder at her. "See you around, Spicen."

Spicen blinked and turned to look at him as well. She gave a courteous nod and then continued on her way, her long auburn hair flowing down her back in wet waves. Cal watched her go for a moment before turning and heading along, his own stomach growling. After no dinner last night, he sure was ready for some food.

* * *

><p>Wooo, the second chapter! I really hope you liked it and I would love, love, love to hear your thoughts upon it. Thanks for reading!<p>

Love always,  
>S.Q.O.<p> 


	3. Curious

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's world.

**The Third Tier**

_**Chapter Three: In Which A Slytherin is Curious**_

Cal climbed the stairs up to the third floor of the library, ignoring the chiding of his friends who were staying down on the first one. He studied much better in the solitary silence of the table hidden away from everyone else. The work load of a sixth year student was already immensely greater than that of a fifth year student and the difference was taking it's toll on some of them. Being a prefect, Cal was unspokenly expected to set an example and do well in all of his classes. If other students were to notice him doing poorly, well, they wouldn't show him the respect he deserved when he called them out on rule breaking. Not that they usually showed him any respect when he did that anyway, but it never hurt to try and increase his chances by keeping his grades up to a certain standard.

After he had gotten his books out of his bag and set down a roll of parchment at the ready for the essay he needed to write for Tranfiguration, Cal leaned back in his chair and peeked over at the alcove. The footstool was there, but he couldn't quite see the chair so it was hard to tell if it had no occupant or if it were turned around backwards to face the window again. He let his chair fall forward and undid the top of his ink bottle.

It had been two weeks since the incident of getting caught in the forest overnight. Spicen had not said a word to him nor he to her. Things were back to being just the way they had been, two separate people from two separate houses going along their lives without intersecting. He saw her in Potions, but neither of them acknowledged the other's existence. Still though, Cal couldn't help it if she crossed his mind every now and then or if he tended to peek at her in the library more often than he used to. It wasn't that he liked the Hufflepuff or anything. He just wondered how someone could spend so much time by herself and not seem to crack.

Cal got about halfway through his essay before he let his eyes wander over to the chair again. He rose to his feet and casually strolled over to one of the bookcases, letting his hand skim over the spines of the books as though he were looking for something. With a quick glance over at the chair, he frowned. It was empty, which was quite strange. He had never seen the chair not occupied unless he had a free period where the fifth years were all in a class. Certainly it was always occupied on Mondays after dinner, not that he'd noticed or anything.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Spicen had decided to go to bed early or maybe she'd found a friend of sorts. There were many reasons why she wouldn't be in the library as usual. It was a simple curiosity that had Cal wondering where she might be, nothing more. After all, when one gets used to things being a certain way all of the time, they tend to notice when things change. Thinking nothing more of it, Cal returned to his table.

The next day the table at the front of Potions class remained empty, as did the chair in the library. It was the same the next day and the next. On Friday, when Spicen wasn't in Potions again, Cal began to wonder after her, though he also wondered why he bothered. What did he care if the Huffledork wasn't in class or the library? Perhaps she hadn't been doing well enough in the class and had been moved back to the fifth year Potions class. Although, even everyone else in the sixth year Potions class knew that wouldn't be the case. Professor Harper was always giving 'Echo' points and telling the class they should be working harder. After all, if a fifth year student could excel in class, why couldn't the sixth years do just as well, or even better?

Curiosity finally getting the better of him, Cal purposely spilt his jar of newt eyeballs all over the table. Waving his friends off and telling them to go get dinner without him, Cal began scooping up the eyes and placing them back in his jar as Professor Harper raised his wand to the board eraser to make it clean itself.

"Professor?" Cal asked as he screwed the lid back into his jar and placed it away in his small box of personal potion ingredients.

"Ah, yes, what is it Mister Wilkes?" Professor Harper looked up as he lifted a vial of clear red liquid from a stand and stared through it as though looking for impurities. It belonged to a student and needed grading.

"Sir, I couldn't help but to notice that Miss Echo hasn't been in class this week. Is she ill?" Cal worded his question carefully. He didn't want anyone to think he actually cared about the Huffledork, because he didn't. He was just curious as to where she was. That was all, nothing more.

"Oh, no. Similar, but no. She had to go home for the week to assist her father whilst he is ill. It's a fairly common occurrence, I'm afraid. Why do you ask?" Professor Harper looked up from examining another vial of gunk, though this time it was a preposterously disgusting shade of putrid green.

"Just wondering. As a prefect, I feel it is my duty to look out for the other students. If she were ill, I was going to go to the Hospital Wing and lend her my notes to copy so she doesn't fall behind." Cal held up his Potions notebook, a black leather bound thing filled with parchment he could remove or add to if need be. He had similar ones for his other classes, a gift from his mother when he'd started Hogwarts. Each was embellished with the class name so as to easily tell them apart and then his first initial and last name underneath. When he'd started third year and additional classes, he'd received notebooks for those classes as well. Cal's mother was prideful and wanted her son to do well so as to always uphold their pure-blooded family name with respect.

"That is very thoughtful of you. Perhaps when she returns tomorrow you can track her down. I daresay catching up in this class would be no easy feat if one does not have the notes. The Headmistress did well in choosing you for Prefect, Wilkes." Professor Harper smiled and set down the vial of green goop.

"I like to think so, Professor. And I'll be sure Echo gets a chance to look over my notes this weekend." Cal swung his bag onto his shoulder and started for the door. "Have a nice evening, sir."

"And you, Wilkes." Professor Harper nodded after him as Cal made his way out of the door.

…...

"Fancy a game, Wilkes?" Ofrin asked the next afternoon as Cal passed him and some other Slytherins in the common room. Cal paused to find all six of them holding brooms and he shook his head.

"Nah, that'd make the teams uneven and we've got practice later anyway, so I've got to work on my…" Cal paused for a split second to think of which class he took that the others weren't in. "Arithmancy homework. Vector loaded us up this weekend and I'd rather have it finished so I can actually enjoy tomorrow, but thanks." He waved on his way out the door and quickly headed up the stairs to the Entrance Hall before they could follow after him.

The truth was, Cal had already finished his schoolwork for the weekend the night before. Studying alone in the library as opposed to with a group was making it a lot easier to get things done quicker when there was no one distracting him. No, he had told the professor he would get his Potions notes to Spicen, so that's what he was going to do. Usually when students went home for family reasons, they were back by noon on the day they were due to return. So Spicen had to of gotten back around lunch time, though Cal hadn't seen her, so he couldn't know for sure.

Knowing his best bet was the library, Cal made his way upstairs and then into the land of books. It was pretty crowded, though not nearly as badly as it would be tomorrow afternoon when those who had put off their homework were trying to get it done before it was due the next day. Ignoring a jeer from the Gryffindor boy, Hammald, who had tossed water balloons down upon him and his friends, Cal headed for his usual place up on the secluded third tier of the library.

Before he had even finished climbing the spiraling staircase, Cal heard voices. He frowned, reaching the top and making his way towards his usual table. The voices were coming from this section of the third tier… had someone found his spot and taken it over?

"What are you gonna do about it, Huff-a-lump? Tell a teacher?"

"Ha! As if. She can't even talk."

Cal moved quickly, dropping his bag at his table with a loud thunk before surveying the scene. A Slytherin boy who looked to be about fourteen but tall for his age held a battered book up high above Spicen's head while his mate reached for her school bag. He snatched it up, both of the boys laughing and having fun.

Spicen though, was not having fun. A Hufflepuff scarf wrapped around her face hid all but her eyes as she jumped for the book the boy was holding. It wasn't even a library book, but one of her own personal books from home. It was already quite battered and didn't look like it could take much more. Meanwhile, the other boy was taking things out of Spicen's bag and tossing them about like there were confetti meant to be thrown. Ink bottles smashed on the floor, quills broke underfoot, pages of books and parchment ripped and shredded.

As Cal's bag hit the table, both boys looked up, but upon seeing it was only a fellow Slytherin, returned to their game. Now, Cal was known for picking on other students when the teachers were unaware of it, but right then something inside him clicked. Maybe it was the way the boys were jeering, or the fact that Spicen's eyes had started to water or that she looked so helpless. Whatever it was, Cal would not be having any of this.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Cal moved forward quickly and with one arm, grabbed the first boy's wrist and tugged the book free from him. He tossed the book onto the chair and then turned on the second boy who had the bag. He reached out a hand. "Give it here."

"Man, what is your problem? She's just a stupid Hufflepuff. Hell, she can't even talk right, so she much be really extra stupid."

"I . Said. Give. It. Here." Cal repeated, motioning towards the bag with his hand again. He stared hard down at the boy, towering over him. This second boy… his name was Perkins, Cal believed, was shorter than the first one. He would be easy to intimidate. "Do not make me take it from you because it will not be pretty."

Perkins handed over the bag, glowering.

"Now get out of here before I report you. Go!" Cal shouted and both boys took off running, looking behind them only once before they reached the stairs. Cal could hear them grumbling and swearing as they stomped their way downwards. He ignored them and turned to look at Spicen who was now cradling her book to her chest. "You alright?"

Spicen nodded. She was used to being picked on, though most people only used their words. They didn't usually touch her things or invade her safe little corner of the library where no one ever went. It had been a complete and utter fluke that those two boys had seen her come up here and decided to have to fun by following after her. Her wand had fallen and rolled under the chair where she couldn't reach it, otherwise she would have gotten her book and bag back a lot sooner without any help whatsoever. She was glad Cal had decided to come study, though she wasn't glad he had seen her in a situation where she seemed less strong than she was. Normally she could hold her own pretty well.

After retrieving her wand from beneath the chair, Spicen began picking up the things spewed from her school bag. Half of her books were dripping with ink and all of her bottles were smashed. That was her whole supply for the semester and there was no saving it. Normally she didn't carry all of her ink with her, but the package had arrived while she was on her way to the library, so she'd just taken it with here… and now all of them were gone. She wouldn't be able to buy anymore either… she simply didn't have the money, not even for one bottle. Let alone a new quill… the boys had broken all of those as well.

Cal looked down at the mess the boys had made. He heaved a sigh and fell to his knees, reaching out and picking up a couple of school books that hadn't been hit by ink. "They really did a number on your stuff. Damn, I hope you've got spares in your dorm. That is a lot of ink."

"A-a-all o-offffff i-it-ttt." Spicen stated, standing up and kicking at her completely sodden Charms book. "E-ev-e-ery-y-y f-f-fuck-k-king wa-wa-one." She crouched back down, not caring that she was getting ink all over her shoes, hands, robes, and skirt. She picked up broken quills, all of them shattered to far to repair and tossed them into a nearby trash bin.

"All of them?" Cal asked, quite surprised. Why would she be carrying all of her ink? The he noticed the brown paper of a package half covered in ink and sighed. They must have been new bottles then.

"I-ink. Qu-quillsssss." Spicen nodded, reaching out and grabbing up a handful of crumpled parchment.

"Careful! The glass…"

Spicen grimaced, dropping the parchment quickly as she felt shards of glass from the ink bottles dig into the palm of her hand. She let out a cry of frustration as her hand dripped blood and ink. Just great… perfect.

"Here… Let me see." Cal sighed and reached out, taking Spicen's hand in his and looking it over. He couldn't see much due to the ink, so he pulled his wand out of his pocket. "This might sting a little…Scourgify!"

The ink was roughly wiped from Spicen's hand, only some of it remaining, the rest of her skin pink from the cleaning spell. It hadn't hurt really, just felt slightly unpleasant. Like being rubbed to hard in one sport with a dishrag. Blood gushed up from the center of her palm and Cal frowned.

"Accio glass." He stated, thinking hard about just the glass in Spicen's hand as opposed to the glass on the floor. The glass came flying out of her hand quickly and she let out a slight yelp. Thankfully though, it was only a couple of pieces and Cal dodged it quickly. Instead of hitting him, it whacked into the side of a bookcase and fell to the floor, clinking into more pieces. "Aguamenti."

Water shot from Cal's wand into the gash on Spicen's hand and she winced, but said nothing as he cleaned it out and then, after one more spell, had it healed into a faint pink line.

"Th-th-thannnnk-ksss." Spicen sighed and looked down at the mess still on the floor. This time she was more careful as she began to clean, both of them watching out for glass and getting all but the ink up off of the floor and into the waste basket.

Once everything was picked up and all of the books had had as much of the wet ink siphoned off of them as possible, Spicen repacked her bag and shouldered it. As she did so, her scarf slipped a bit and she quickly grabbed hold of it, tugging it back into place, her eyes full of panic. Cal watched her curiously, not quite understanding her reaction. It was just a scarf after all, and part of it had gotten covered in ink.

"Oh!" A sudden realization coming to him, Cal went back to his own bag and pulled out his Potions notebook. "I told Harper I'd make sure you got our notes from this week. I already copied them for you, and this past week's assignments. I'm sure Harper would give them to you on Monday with time to catch up, but this way you can start early." Cal opened his notebook and undid the hooks that kept his parchment in place. He removed the top five pages and offered them to Spicen with a smile.

Spicen blinked, taking the pages from him and staring down at them. His handwriting was fairly neat and easy to read. She looked from the pages and then up at him before letting herself return his smile, though he couldn't see it with her scarf in the way. He wasn't so bad for a Slytherin… at least he wasn't calling her names right now.

Cal wasn't sure why he was being nice to this small Hufflepuff. Maybe it was from seeing someone else pick on her or his wondering after where she was all week and then finding out her father had been ill, but he had no desire to tease her right then. He sat down in his usual chair and then reached out, pulling the chair beside him out and looking up at Spicen. "Why don't you work here with me for a bit, in case you've got any questions?"

Spicen blinked. Never had anyone offered to study with her. In first year she had been part of a little group of Hufflepuffs that worked together on their homework, but she had always been off to the side. Second year a few people had asked for help on their potions homework, but nothing had ever really come of those times either… Then the requests had stopped altogether when people realized it was faster just to look up what they wanted to know than try and decipher was Spicen was trying to tell them. And now here was this boy. An older student and a Slytherin no less, offering to help her with her homework.

Spicen sat down beside him and pulled out her Potions book before looking over the assignments. A short essay about the importance of dragon's blood. Well, that one would be easy. Answering the questions that had been placed on the board…. Spicen flipped through the note pages and found all twenty five questions already written out right at the very end. Finally, a quiz on what they'd learned that week to be given on Friday Well, she would have to talk to Harper about when she could take that but she could do her homework in the meantime. Thankfully there wasn't too much of it. She had missed out on her actual in class potion making but at least she could make up her assignments.

Except she had neither ink, nor quill, nor unsoiled parchment on her person.

Before she could even say anything, Cal was already pulling parchment out of his own bag and setting it down in front of her. He brought out a jar of green ink and a quill that looked like it had belonged to a hawk. "Almost forgot."

Spicen smiled again and dipped the quill into the ink. Normally she only had black because it was the cheapest to get. The professors didn't care what color you used though, so long as it wasn't red. That was reserved for grading and marking mistakes.

Opening her book to the appropriate chapter, Spicen began to write down the answers to the questions that had been on the board. They didn't have to write the questions down as well, just number them appropriately.

Cal took out his own answers to the questions that had already been graded. He hadn't gotten them all correct. "They're pretty tough this time, so you'd better double check your…" He blinked, looking down at the writing on Spicen's paper. She'd already answered three of the questions and had barely glanced at her book of his notes to do so… and yet, all of them were correct so far. How was it that a fifth year was better at potions than a sixth year? He'd had to look over his information several times before being able to answer the second question, let alone the third!

Cal watched as Spicen answered each of the question, comparing her answers with his and the corrections Harper had written on his paper where corrections were needed. It took her about fifteen minutes to get them and in that space of time she only checked the book and notes twice.

"How did you do that?" Cal asked, slightly astonished. "Those took me an hour and a half."

Spicen shrugged, tugging slightly at her scarf and flipping a page in her Potions book to the chapter on dragon's blood. Her scarf was insanely uncomfortable to be wearing inside when it wasn't even winter yet. It was too hot and kind of itchy, but she had to leave it on. There was no way she was going to be taking it off until bedtime at least.

"Why're you even wearing a scarf?" Cal asked, noticing the way she tugged at it like it was bothering her. It wasn't particularly cold in here. He was fine without a sweater and just his robes over his white school shirt. "It can't be particularly comfortable."

Spicen shook her head and then her eyes went wide and she shook her head again, trying to take back the first one. She quickly let her eyes fall back down to the parchment, trying to turn focus back onto the task at hand as opposed to her odd choice in accessorizing.

Cal frowned, sensing the conversation of the scarf was over, but something about it bugged him. He let it go for a couple more minutes, watching as Spicen scribbled away the twelve uses of dragon's blood, including all the minor details, like who had discovered the use and how.

Cal watched her until she reached about halfway through the assignment. She kept tugging at that damn scarf and it was beginning to make his own face itch just thinking about wearing it. His Slytherin scarf was wool as well, but it was soft as silk while still being warm. Another custom-made thing given to him by his mother. The regular school scarves were alright, but they did grow uncomfortable after a while…

Unable to take it any longer, Cal reached out his hand and gave Spicen's scarf a tug from the end, making it come loose until it hung free around her shoulders instead. Spicen blinked and quickly grabbed for it, but it was too late.

"Ouch."

The whole lower half of Spicen's right cheek was a painful looking dark purple and red bruise that Cal could almost feel throbbing. Spicen quickly looked down at the table and lifted her scarf back up, covering the lower half of her face again.

"How'd you manage that?" Cal asked curiously, unable to help it. That was one nasty looking injury if he ever saw one, and, after years of Quidditch, he'd seen plenty of his share of bumps and bruises.

"F-fell." Spicen shrugged, keeping her eyes glued to the parchment in front of her, but the quill in her hand wasn't moving. Ink dripped a bit onto the spot she held it above, and she quickly blotted at it with her sleeve, starting to scribble away again.

Cal nodded, pondering over how clumsy Spicen typically seemed to be whenever he'd seen her. She wasn't the most graceful of people, still though… "Must've been one heck of a fall."

Spicen didn't respond. She didn't like talking about things like this, she never did, which was why she avoided the Hospital Wing when it came to these minor scrapes she sometimes got. She'd had plenty of bruises in the past and this one would heal in time too.

A few more minutes passed, Spicen working on the assignment, Cal peeking over to check her information compared to his own and frowning whenever he found something he hadn't known. She was smart…at least, in Potions. But his mind kept flickering, his eyes falling on that scarf, wondering about that bruise.

"Why don't you go to the Hospital Wing and have Madam Promfrey fix you up? It'd take her about two seconds." Cal suggested, flipping through his own Potions book, trying to see where she was getting half of the information she was writing down.

"N-no." Spicen shook her head and kept writing, focusing on the task at hand.

Cal nodded and closed his Potions book. Spicen had refused his help the last time he had seen her fall, weeks ago when she'd tripped her way out of the chair in the alcove and slammed her chin onto the floor. Then she'd covered it with a bandage instead of going to the Hospital Wing. Maybe she didn't like nurses or hospitals…

"I'll be back." He rose from his chair and wandered away from the section, his feet heading down the stairs, away from the third tier of the library. He wasn't quite sure why he was doing it, or what had come over him, but he had this intense urge to help…

Back down on the first floor, he made his way over to the group of Gryffindors doing their school work at one of the more central tables. Their eyes locked on him as he approached, an ever cautious sort of attitude between them that was common when it came to any relations between Gryffindors and Slytherins. It was sort of one of those old time unspoken things that everyone could just feel. A strange pressure in the air, like before a really bad thunderstorm.

"Hammald?"

"Wilkes?" Hammald raised an eyebrow, obviously taken back by the unthreatening tone of Cal's voice.

"You wouldn't have any bruise ointment on you, would you?" Cal asked. He knew perfectly well that all the Quidditch Captains carried the purple ointment with them during practices and since Gryffindor had had practice that morning, it was likely Hammald might still have his on him. It kind of bugged him that he was asking Hammald for such a thing, but Cal knew there was no way he could heal a bruise on his own. Those sort of lessons weren't given until the seventh year, and then only if you were looking to become a Healer or had interest in learning it. The only reason he knew how to heal Spicen's superficial glass cut was due to watching others heal his throughout the years. Bruises were harder and required much more concentration, thus, the ointment was preferred by most. Why he was even bothering to sacrifice part of his dignity to help a Hufflepuff was beyond him, but… well, here he was.

"Why? Got a boo-boo, Wilkes?"

"No. It's for a friend." Cal shook his head, looking Hammald straight in the eyes. The other boy stared back at him and then, nodded. Hammald dug into his pocket, pulled out a small, round, metal container and tossed it at Cal who caught it with ease. "Thanks."

"I was going to have to pick up a new one from the Quidditch storage anyway. That one's almost empty." Hammald shrugged, but he was a good guy beneath the sometimes cool exterior. A prankster and a real pain in the ass, but not a total asshole. Even he understood the desire the help out a friend.

Cal headed back up to the third tier of the library where Spicen was still working away. She seemed to be almost finished with the assignment. Cal sat down and set the metal container down beside her on the table. "Here."

Spicen blinked, looking down at the little thing. The label on the top clearly indicated what it was and she lifted it from the table, unscrewing the top. There was a decent amount left, which surprised Cal since Hammald had said it was almost empty.

"You just… rub it on and let it sink in and then do it again when you can't feel it anymore. It'll help it heal faster, usually within twenty four hours depending on the severity." Cal explained, reaching out to pull at Spicen's scarf again. "Originally it was just a WWW after-prank thing, but after finding out that it works on more than just prank induced bruises, most people starting keeping some in their bathroom cupboards. There's a whole shelf of them in the Quidditch shed."

Smiling, Spicen let her scarf hang down and dipped a couple of fingers into the see-though purple gel, getting a decent amount on them and rubbing at her face. She blinked, her eyes closing as a sense of relief flooded the lower portion of her cheek, the pain ebbing away and turning into a light warm sensation that made her slump slightly in her chair. "O-oh."

Cal laughed, reaching out to where she still had some purple clinging to her face and giving it was swipe with his thumb. "Better?"

Spice tensed at his touch, her body stiffening and shying away slightly before she looked back at him and nodded. She replaced the cap on the container and offered it back to him, but he shook his head.

"You'll want it later. Besides, I've already got some in my Quidditch robes."

Spicen nodded, pocketing the container and smiling. She wasn't used to getting along with people or having them be kind to her when they didn't have to be. She knew full well that Cal could have ignored her completely. He didn't have to stop those two boys from taunting her or lend her his Potions notes or give her the bruise ointment. It was strange, interacting with another person in this weird way that almost resembled friendship when they weren't even friends at all. However, it didn't feel bad. Actually, it felt quite nice to not be sitting up here all by her lonesome, just reading or doing her schoolwork.

They spent the rest of the next half hour in a fairly comfortable silence, the only sounds that of a quill to parchment and the distant voices of the other people in the lower portions of the library. The library grew even quieter still as people began leaving to go down to the Great Hall for some dinner.

"Wilkes? Are you up here?"

The voice was loud, interrupting the quiet and setting off alarm bells in both Cal and Spicen's heads. It was one thing to work together when they weren't around anyone else, but quite another to be seen together and in such a way that no one else was even with them.

Without a word, Spicen shoved her things into her bag like a well oiled machine. She swung her bag onto her shoulder and quickly dashed in the opposite direction of the stairs, disappearing behind a bookcase. Cal watched her but didn't call after her. He knew just as well as she did what would happen if they were found together. Rumors would spread and they would both be teased mercilessly.

"There you are! I've been looking for you all over." Ofrin came out from behind the bookcase right next to the stairs. "You coming to dinner?"

"Yeah. Just finishing up here, had to look over these Potions notes one more time…" Cal stated, quickly gathering up the notes Spicen had left on the table and placing them haphazardly back into his notebook before shoving it into his bag.

"Man, why've you got your ink and quill so far out of reach?" Ofrin asked curiously, indicating the open in bottle sitting in the upper left hand of the table. Cal reached for it, pulling it to himself and replacing the metal cap before grabbing up the quill that was sitting beside it, ink dripping out of it. He quickly wiped it clean on his robes and dropped both into his bag.

"Oh you know, just keeping them out of the way." Cal shrugged and he rose from the chair, pushing it and the one beside it back in. "So, dinner and then practice?"

"Yeah." Ofrin nodded, accepting Cal's answer without question. "We are going to dominate against Gryffindor next weekend."

"They won't know what hit them." Cal laughed as he fell into step beside his friend. There was no sign of Spicen anywhere, though, as he turned to head down the stairs, he thought he saw a flash of yellow beside one of the bookcases.

* * *

><p>Yay, chapter three! This one is slow going, but I really, really like it, so I hope you do too! Thanks for reading and please, I would love to hear from you!<p>

Love always,  
>S.Q.O.<p> 


	4. Assholes

Disclaimer: I have no rights to this world. It belongs to J. . Duh.

**The Third Tier**

_**Chapter Four: In Which Some People Are Assholes**_

"Slytherin wins!" The commentator of the Quidditch game shouted as the green clad members in the stadium screamed and hollered their joy. Cal flew his way to the center of the pitch where he and the rest of his team tackled their Seeker who had just caught the Snitch while they were still sixty points behind. The extra one-hundred and fifty points had put them at a total of two-hundred and ten for the entire game as well as giving their house the current lead for the end of year House Cup. Ah, Quidditch. There was almost nothing better than the feeling of the wind through your hair and the exhilaration of winning when you did.

"Party in the common room!" Ofrin called as the team landed on the pitch and started making their way for the changing room, brooms upon their shoulders as the crowd around them began to disperse. The game had been quite a long one, going well into the evening and it was past dinner time now, but it was worth it. Most had stayed to watch, not wanting to leave in case something really cool happened. There had been a few though, who had let hunger get to them and had headed back up to the castle early. However, unlike professional Quidditch matches, school matches were only allowed to go throughout the weekend. Started mid-morning on Saturdays, the longest running game in Hogwarts history had gone on until dinner time Sunday and then been taken back up the next Saturday morning due to classes needing to continue. That had been a game between Gryffindor and Slytherin, both teams quite evenly matched against one another to the point where each team was hard to beat.

Cal entered the locket room and downed half of the water in his bottle before shucking off his Quidditch robes and tossing them into the laundry bin in the side of the room. He pulled off his pads and set them away in his locker before grabbing his water bottle and leaving the locker room. A party in the common room was always a good time.

"Aw, what's the matter? Just a little kiss."

Cal blinked, turning his head in the direction of the voice. It was coming from near the stairs that led up into the now empty stands. Something in his stomach twisted and he paused, his ears pricked, listening. A slight scuffling came from the stairs and Cal started walking, going in the opposite direction of the remaining game goers.

"Oh come on! Use your lips for something for a change! Here, let me show you a good way… Ouch! Hey!" A boy with dark hair and a grumpy look as his face came tumbling down and hit the grass at the bottom of the stairs with a thump. He groaned, rubbing at his butt as he rose to his feet. His eyes caught on Cal and he frowned. "Hey, you're a Prefect right? That bitch up there just pushed me down the stairs. Do something."

"From the way you were talking, you probably deserved it." Cal laughed, shaking his head. "Get on up to the castle before I report you for harassment."

"Bloody… The fuck man? She pushed me down the stairs! I should tell on her!" The boy pointed and Cal peered up the stairs. He heaved a sigh when he saw auburn hair flowing down over Hufflepuff robes. What was it about this damn girl and getting into these situations.

"Versailles, was this asshat harassing you?"

Spicen blinked, quite taken back by Cal's sudden appearance. She had just been waiting for the stadium to clear out before she left, like she always did, and had been on her way down the stairs when the Ravenclaw boy had grabbed at her. Pinned up against the railing, he's tried to kiss her and then, when she'd slapped at him, he'd grabbed her and started to undo the zipper on the front of his pants instead. A hard bite to his wrist and a kick to his stomach had made him lose his balance and go tumbling. However, she was quite glad to see it was Cal who had heard something going on instead of someone else. She nodded, keeping her head down and holding onto the railing.

"Are you kidding me? Man, she came onto me all nice and sweet and whispering things and then she goes and pushes me down the stairs as soon as she hears someone coming!"

Cal laughed, unable to help himself. The very idea of Spicen whispering things was completely ridiculous. "Like I said, get your ass back to the castle before I report you. There's no way she was whispering things at you, everyone knows Echo can't even get out a coherent sentence to save her life." He glared at the boy, pointing a thumb over his shoulder towards the castle, completely serious now.

The boy grimaced but then took off running, swearing and glancing over his shoulder a couple of times on his way back up to the castle. Cal watched him go and then turned his attention back to Spicen who was still clinging to the railing of the stairs. "You okay?"

Spicen nodded and climbed the rest of the way down the stairs, pausing at the bottom to look up at Cal, her hair actually flopping out of her eyes for once. If the stadium hadn't been lit, Cal wouldn't have been able to see them, but, it was, and he could. They were green, a weird kind of green that was almost teal, deep and foresty. He blinked, having not expected that, and turned his attention to her cheek. The bruise was gone, leaving just pale skin behind.

Spicen smiled, hugging her robes tighter about herself as the late fall breeze blew. "Th-thanks."

"It's my job." Cal shrugged, meaning it. "I'll walk you back up to the castle, in case he decides to linger. And if you wanna report him, we can. I'll back you up." He offered, knowing that sometimes these kinds of situations could be rough on a girl, especially when you were as anti-social as Spicen was. Being a Prefect, he needed to protect the younger students and he didn't like to ignore things like this.

But Spicen shook her head. She didn't want anymore trouble from that boy. He'd get in trouble and then what? Come after her seeking revenge most likely. No, best to just let it go. Nothing had really happened anyway aside from him being pushy and saying rude things. If word got out too, who knew what people would say? She'd either be painted as a victim or a slut and knowing the students around here, it would more likely be the latter than the former since she'd have trouble defending herself. "T-too m-much-ch tr-troub-b-ble."

""Well, if you change your mind." Cal sighed and they spent the rest of the walk up to the castle in silence.

By the time they arrived at the Entrance Hall, most students had gone on their way. Cal smiled, bid Spicen good bye, and made his way down the stairs to the dungeons. Spicen turned towards the kitchen but before she could even leave the Entrance hall…

"Miss Versailles, I need to see you and Mister Zaines here in my office please." It was none other than Professor McGonagall herself and the dark haired Ravenclaw boy who was looking particularly smug at the moment. Spicen heaved a sigh upon seeing them and immediately hung her head. She'd been hoping to avoid this by ignoring the situation, but apparently that wasn't about to happen.

Turning on her heal, Spicen nodded and followed McGonagall and Zaines up the stairs and down the corridors until they reached the statue of a griffin that marked the Headmistress's office.

"Lemon drops." McGonagall stated clearly, a partial look of sadness coming over her face as she said it. "Follow me." She led the two students up the stairs to the round office room that had changed much over the years since she had become the Headmistress but still retained some of the strange spinning instruments rumored to be left over from a previous headmaster. No one was quite sure on that one, but there was also rumors about a lot of things from how the school had been years ago during the Second Wizarding War.

"Have a seat." McGonagall stated, moving to sit behind the large desk at the opposite end of the room. Spicen and Zaines both sat down on the straight backed chairs across from her and she peered at them for a moment before crossing her fingers together in front of herself on the desk. "Now then. Mister Zaines has made a very serious accusation against you, Miss Versailles. He claims that you sexually assaulted him after the game this evening."

Spicen shook her head, her eyes wide. This was much worse than she had expected it to be. It was one thing to be reported for pushing someone down the stairs, it was quite another to be accused of something like this.

"So, you did not sexually assault Mister Zaines?"

"N-n-no!" Spicen shook her head harder.

"She did, Professor." Zaines shook his head. "She's lying to try and save her skin but she did. Aster told you too."

"Yes, I remember what Miss Caunly said when the pair of you came to report it. I'm sorry, Versailles, but unless you can give me proof that you did not do what you are being accused of, I'm going to have to suspend you for a week and send you home during that time."

Spicen's eyes went wide. If there was one thing she did not want, it was to be sent home. Being sent home was something she couldn't possibly… Her mind was reeling now. Without being able to use her voice properly to explain her side of the story, what was she to do? Even if she could have, it would still be two people's word against her own since it seemed Zaines had recruited one of his friends into his fabrication. She thought for a moment and then, not knowing what else to do. "W-wilkesss."

"Wilkes? From Slytherin?" McGonagall asked, looking slightly taken aback. "Does he have something to do with this as well?"

Zaines glared, obviously having not thought this out as thoroughly as he should have. Spicen just nodded.

"Well then." McGonagall rose and tossed some Floo powder into her fireplace. Without even bothering to stick her head in she called. "Mister Filch! Please fetch me Mister Wilkes of Slytherin."

"On it, ma'am." Was Filch's bodiless reply.

Ten minutes later, after sitting listening to Zaine's side of the story for what was probably the second time for McGonagall and the first for Spicen, a knocking came upon the door.

"You can come in." McGonagall called and the door opened. Cal stepped into the office and closed the door behind him, looking confused until he spotted Spicen and Zaines sitting by the desk. "Mister Wilkes, as a Prefect I expect you to give me the full and honest truth. Now tell me, do you know why I've called for you this evening?"

"I can take a guess, Professor." Cal remarked, walking further into the room and placing himself to stand right between Spicen and Zaines, blocking the Hufflepuff from the Ravenclaw boy. He reached out a hand, placing it down on Spicen's shoulder. She immediately stiffened in her seat, wanting to shy away from the touch but allowing it only because it would look weird if she pulled away. "As a witness, I can fully confirm that it was purely out of self defense on Versailles's part. Whatever this one is saying she did…" Cal pointed his thumb at Zaines. "Is a lie."

"And you witnessed this how, Wilkes?"

"I came out of the locker room and heard some noises on the stairs that didn't sound quite right. This guy was trying to get Versailles to kiss him, but I guess she declined, so he called her a name and then alluded to getting her to do something sexual for him. I was about to go break it up but I guess Versailles is stronger than she looks because this one… landed at my feet after falling down the stairs. I'm assuming she pushed him away and he lost his balance."

"Is that what happened, Versailles?"

Spicen nodded rapidly. Oh gosh, how she wanted McGonagall to believe her and to believe Cal's version of the story as opposed to Zaines's.

"Would you be willing to repeat what you've just told me under the influence of Veritaserum, Wilkes?"

"Of course, Professor. It's the truth after all. Does Versailles really seem like that type of girl? I mean, look at her." Cal gestured at Spicen, raising an eyebrow to McGonagall as though what type of girl Spicen was was painfully obvious.

"Professor, that girl assaulted me! I want to see some punishment! My mother will be very displeased when I…"

"Mister Zaines, that is quite enough. Mister Wilkes has agreed to verify his own words by way of Veritaserum if need be. Will you do the same?"

"I er…"

"Exactly as I thought, then. Well, off you go Mister Wilkes, Miss Versailles. I need to speak to Mister Zaines privately now about his punishment for trying to defile an innocent girl's character." Professor McGonagall gave a wave of dismissal. Spicen rose from the chair and she and Cal left the office, their feet trodding rapidly down the spiraling staircase to the corridor below.

"How many times is that now that I've saved your ass? I swear, you just keep getting yourself into trouble." Cal shook his head, but he was smiling slightly, as though amused more than he was mad. "You know, I bet if you went and made some actual friends, then you wouldn't be so prone to these types of situations, Huffledork."

Spicen hmphed a little, crossing her arms and shaking her head. She stuck her tongue out at him and picked up her pace, walking ahead. She didn't need him telling her what she should be doing, she knew full well she'd be better off with some friends, but then again, maybe not. There hadn't been a single person up until Spicen had met Cal, who had even remotely given her enough time to get her words out when she wanted to, let alone spend enough time to become friends. Cal wasn't her friend though. He was just some guy who kept getting mixed up with her somehow. And though he annoyed her endlessly sometimes… he always did seem to end up helping her… Stopping dead in her tracks, Spicen turned around, her eyes flicking upwards at Cal. She looked down at her feet for a moment, her hands wringing the hem of her shirt. "Th-thanks."

"It's my duty." Cal shrugged, smiling at her. God was she a dork and a pain in the ass. She wasn't half-bad though… for a Hufflepuff at least. If it weren't for the fact that she was a trouble magnet and a Muggleborn… oh, and that stutter, damn, that stutter… they might have actually had a chance at becoming friends. But there was no way that would ever be possible, not with the unspoken boundaries set for them by their peers and the more prideful pure-blooded part of wizarding society. Cal's mother would throw an absolute fit if he were to even try to be friends with a half-blood student who wasn't at least in Slytherin, let alone a Muggleborn from another house entirely, and one who appeared to have to get second-hand robes and books at that. If it weren't for the tradition in their family of attending Hogwarts, Cal probably would have been home-schooled by a tutor for how attached his mother was to him being her perfect angel of a son. She needed something to brag about to her friends at their weekly tea get-togethers after all.

Spicen frowned, not responding to that. Sure, it was his duty to look out for the other students, but he didn't need to keep helping her when things happened. She could help herself most of the time… Usually when she got picked on she got out of it by running away from it or pulling her wand on whomever it was. That was how she'd gotten out of things in the past for the most part with no repercussions. Sometimes they managed to get a hold of her if they were particularly malicious, but even then she never ended up with more than a couple of bruises and hurt pride. She could look after herself… she didn't need Cal to constantly be showing up like he seemed to have been lately.

"Well, anyway…" Cal stated after a few moments of silence. "See you, Hufflepuff." He nodded as they reached the foot of the marble staircase and turned on his heel, heading away from her in the opposite direction towards the Slytherin common room. Spicen stood at the foot of the stairs for a moment and then smiled, turning and heading for the Hufflepuff burrow. He hadn't called her a name that time.

…...

"Slut."

"Molester."

"Man-raper."

Tramp, trollop, scarlet-woman. The whispers followed Spicen around for the next two weeks. No one would say anything in front of the teachers of course, only when they were sure no one could hear them, and usually by the time Spicen turned her head to see whom had said it, the person was already gone. Despite the fact that her name had been cleared by McGonagall and Zaines had been the one punished, it seemed that not everyone was willing to believe she was innocent. Those within Zaines main group of friends were especially nasty, painting him as a victim of assault and sexism. Some said the only reason McGonagall had sided with Spicen was simply because she was a girl and it was less heard of for girls to be sexually assaulting boys. Zaines managed to keep up a front of woe-is-me, how dare she touch my innocent virgin self while his friends applauded him for 'putting on a brave face' in classes and whenever there were teachers around. They implored him to write to his mother about the situation but he refused, saying he didn't want to trouble her with this any further and so long as they, as students, protected their fellows from any further molestation by that 'rotten rapey girl', he could sleep at night.

The students saying things spread the rumor until the whispers followed Spicen wherever she went. Girls and boys alike with boyfriends would cling to them when she passed in the hallway, pulling them away and staring daggers at her until she was gone. Even the Hufflepuff common room wasn't completely free from judgment and worried looks. The only safe place, as it turned out, was now the third tier of the library where she had had to delve herself even deeper, away from the alcove with her favorite chair and farther into the stacks of Muggle books until she was so deeply buried in the library, that even the floor had dust upon it. The only time she spent in the alcove anymore was when she knew Cal would be there and no one would bother messing with her too badly.

The rumors were flying about Cal as well, although he and his friends brushed them off with laughter. At first Zaines had tried starting a rumor that the only reason Cal had stood up for Spicen in the first place was because he knew what kind of girl she was and that he could easily get her to suck him off for defending her. That rumor had died quickly, Cal laughing it off and saying it was probably the most ludicrous thing he'd ever heard. He claimed to have only stood up for the girl because he felt sorry for her and that the rumors, whatever they were saying, were probably false.

"Seriously, I mean… me doing anything like that with a Mudblood of all people? And a poor one at that? Who ever started that one must be barking!"

Of course, there was nothing Cal could do to stem the flow of the rumors following Spicen. He could defend himself, but defending her… well… that would just enflame them more and give them more to talk about. No. It would be better to let the flames die out in their natural course and in the meantime, make sure they weren't affecting Spicen too much during the time they spent in the library collaborating on their Potions homework. She seemed to be taking it in stride, not allowing what people said get to her. She'd been jibed too many times in the past to allow something as silly as being called a sexual predator get to her when she knew perfectly well that she was nothing of the sort.

"Hey bitch."

Spicen jumped, turning around just as a fist connected with her face. She fell back, right into the stone all behind her as another blow hit her straight in the stomach. "Think it's funny do you? Raping boys or using your innocent looking wiles to get them in bed." Another punch, right up the side of Spicen's face had her covering her head with her arms as she was knocked to her feet. She tried to get up, but there were at least three of them and only one of her, and there was no way she could reach her wand and keep them away from her face at the same time.

"My boyfriend says you're the one who gave him crabs. Said you entranced him with a love potion!" Spicen blinked. The attackers were three Ravenclaw girls, all of them red in the face with rage. "We were going to have our first time together on our anniversary, but now we can't until the crabs are gone! You ruined it!"

They kept punching, and slapping Spicen until she lay on the floor. And then they kicked her and kicked her, only stopping when footsteps could be heard coming from one of the nearby corridors.

"C'mon, let's get out of here before anyone sees!" One of the girls whimpered and they shot off, running down the hallway and turning the corner just as whomever was walking this way saw them.

"Versailles?"

Spicen winced and looked up, her eyes first finding a pair of shoes and then following them hem of robes up to the face of the Professor Longbottom who taught Herbology. He frowned, reaching down and helping her to her feet. She tensed and winced, her eyes squeezing shut as she moved, her body bruised from the beating.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Longbottom asked, his eyes full of concern as Spicen stumbled a bit, her body aching all over. He caught her quickly, keeping her on her feet. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital wing."

Knowing she couldn't refuse, Spicen nodded and allowed him to help keep her upright as they walked down the corridor and a set of stairs to the first floor where the Hospital Wing had it's own section of the castle. They pushed through the double doors and Longbottom led Spicen over to the nearest bed, getting her sat down before he strode across the entirety of the long room to Madam Promfrey's office. The matron came hurrying out of the office, always on edge and ready to help a student in need.

"Well, this is the first time I've seen you in here." The nurse stated, looking a bit surprised that there was a student she'd never taken care of before. It was a very rare occurrence. Usually students ended up in her part of the castle within their first year, due to either sickness or accident. It was not uncommon to see them at least once a year. But this student… she couldn't remember ever really seeing her before.

Spicen nodded and looked down at her feet. She wasn't used to being taken care of, normally she did it all herself if she got hurt, which happened quite often to be honest. She had a whole stock of bandages and stuff in her trunk down in her dorm.

"Who did this to you?" Madam Promfrey asked as she dug into her apron pocket and pulled out her wand, pointing it at Spicen's face first.

Spicen shrugged, unable to tell her. She didn't know the names of the Ravenclaw girls who had attacked her, nor did she want to report them even if she had known their names. Telling McGonagall about Zaines jumping her in the Quidditch stadium had already caused her so many problems just by word of mouth and false rumors. She didn't need any extra abuse for reporting the Ravenclaw girls as well.

"House? Age? Appearance? How many of them there were?" Professor Longbottom pressed, his face angry but Spicen only shrugged again. "Nothing?" Spicen nodded. Nothing.

Longbottom sighed, shaking his head. "Well, if you do remember, please let me or your Head of House know. It's no good if we have students running around harming one another like this. I'm not sure what caused this to occur, but I'll look into it. In the meantime, Madam Promfrey will fix you up like brand new."

Professor Longbottom left, having to get to his next class, but shooting a sad backwards glance back at the poor Hufflepuff who hadn't said a single word or whimper since he'd found her. Spicen continued to stare down at her feet as Madam Promfrey fixed her face and then, after putting a screen around the bed, poked and prodded at her until Spicen allowed her to see her aching side.

"They really did a number on you didn't they? Well then, nothing I can't heal easily enough." The nurse prodded Spicen's side with her wand, sending a wave of cooling relief into the poor girl's body. "There, anywhere else hurt?"

Spicen heaved a sigh and nodded, holding up the other side of her shirt to reveal another bruise forming. Madam Promfrey clucked her tongue but pressed the tip of her wand gently against Spicen's skin again. Spicen relaxed, her body feeling so much better now that it was healing. She smiled. "Th-th-thaaaa-n-ksss."

"Oh, you're that girl." Madam Promfrey seemed taken aback for a second before she smiled. "Well then, I want you to lay down and rest, at least until dinner. I'll give you a note for your afternoon classes so your teachers don't write you down as having skipped."

Spicen frowned. She didn't want to miss any of her classes… but then, there was an unspoken rule that every student knew. You did not say no to Madam Promfrey when she wanted you to rest. She was older, but she had nothing against putting a full body bind hex on you if she had to. So, against her own judgment, Spicen kicked off her shoes and laid down on the bed.

Madam Promfrey nodded her approval and left, heading back for her office. Spicen heaved a sigh, her eyes wandering from the starch white curtains around her to the tall vaulted ceiling of the Hospital Wing. She'd hoped she would never end up in this room during her Hogwarts career but then again, it had been kind of inevitable in the long run.

…...

"Heard you got beaten up." Cal stated as he sat down next to Spicen at their table on the third tier of the library the next morning. It was Saturday, the day most people put off their homework for enjoying themselves. However, it had become the usual time for Spicen and Cal to work on their homework when the library was still fairly empty and they were less likely to be bothered.

Spicen nodded without looking up from the essay she was writing, using a quills and bottle of ink Cal had loaned her until she could order her own against next semester, after the holidays. She only had so much money to spend on school supplies each term. Cal hadn't even asked if she wanted to borrow some quills and ink until she could get new ones. He'd just shown up with them one day and dropped them into her schoolbag without her noticing until later. Neither of them had said anything about it afterwards either. That was the type of relationship they had.

"I also happen to know who did it and would like to report that the insinuator has been put on suspension for an entire week after someone found some rather suggestive reading material in her bag that is highly offensive and definitely not allowed at school. Her two friends will be either in detention or suspended by Monday as well." Cal dug around in his bag, as though looking for something.

Spicen looked up from her work now, staring at him questioningly and he smirked at her. "It's my job as a Prefect to make sure those that cause trouble get punished for their wrongdoings." He turned his head, looking back down at his notes and starting to write.

Spicen smiled and returned to her work, glad that something had happened to the girls who had beaten her up over something she hadn't actually done. It was weird, having someone who looked out for her even though he acted like he couldn't care less what happened to her.

"Now then, this ruddy Potions essay about the finer points of antidotes…" Cal tugged a roll of parchment out of his bag. He unfurled it, revealing a sloppily done essay with many points crossed out or smudged. "Since, apparently, you're the best in our class, mind giving it a go over?"

Spicen shook her head and reached out, taking the essay from him and picking up her quill. She scanned the green ink, her eyes reading as she went through it, scribbling bits and pieces here and there and marking up other ones. She snorted a few times, shaking her head and grinning at bits where he had gotten something completely wrong. When she finished, she handed the essay back to him, smirking quite smugly.

"Is it really that… ouch." Cal grimaced as he looked over his essay that was now blotted with more black ink than green. "So a Potions master I'm not. Thanks though. This will help."

Spicen nodded and they both returned to their work, not saying a word and just silently scribbling away. For about an hour and a half, neither one bothered to look up or speak, both of them concentrated on getting their work finished. They were only interrupted by a flapping of wings and a soft hoot as a large Great Grey Owl landed upon the table in front of Cal.

Both Hufflepuff and Slytherin looked up, the former more perplexed than the latter. The owl held out his leg, a decent sized package wrapped in brown paper attached to it along with a letter. Cal reached out, untying both package and letter before setting them aside and stroking the owl along his large head.

"Thank you Phoebus." Cal smiled and the owl hooted, pecking lightly at his fingers before hopping across the table and onto his shoulder as he reached to open the letter. "Phoebus, be a gentleman and say hello to Spicen."

The owl turned his head to look at Spicen and she blinked as he gave a hoot and bowed forward, his wings outstretched, head tilted. One wing clocked Cal in the head, but he didn't seem to mind. Spicen laughed. "N-nicccce t-t-to meeeeet-t-t y-you."

Phoebus hooted again, closing his eyes contently and leaned to nuzzle his head against the top of Cal's while the boy read away at his letter.

"My mother has a habit of sending me weekly care packages." Cal explained as he pocketed the letter and reached for the package. He untied the string and then pulled off the paper. Inside was a simple brown box that took a couple of moments to tug open. "Ah, just as suspected. Extra writing supplies, and sweets. Here." He pulled out the clear wrapped bag of candies and handed the box over to Spicen. "You can have them. I have enough parchment, quills, and ink to supply a supply store for a month. I don't need it. Want some candy?"

Spicen stared at him for a moment before looking in the box. She blinked a few times, taking in the sheer amount of supplies in the little box. Five bottles of directly colors inks, at least twenty different quills, most of them Cal's preferred hawk feathers, but some of them even prettier and from other types of birds. Normally she just got three basic white ones for the whole school year and prayed they wouldn't break. Beneath the ink and quills was a stack of sheets of parchment, each one with holes in the side for the notebooks she knew Cal used

Spicen shoved the package back at him, shaking her head. There was no way she could accept all of those things. Those quills at to be at least almost a Galleon a piece! And who knew how much custom parchment cost? Plus, those ink bottles had to be more expensive than the quills. They weren't the cheap brand she bought, nor were any of them black. She was pretty sure the single bottle of indigo colored ink like that had to be worth at least… well, quite a few Sickles.

"Alright then. Well, if you don't want it I'll just give it to one of my other friends." Cal shrugged and reached for the package. Spicen bit her lip and they both paused for a second, Cal with his hand outstretched and Spicen with her lip between her teeth. Cal blinked, turning his head to look at her, perplexed for a moment by his own use of wording. Had they really gotten to a point where he automatically had begun considering her a friend without even giving it any thought? Sure, they studied together a lot, but that was because she was good at helping him with Potions. They also both liked the remote setting of the third tier of the library because it was quite. If anything, it was simply convenience that had put them together like this. As for Spicen, well, she wasn't really afraid to open her mouth when it was just Cal around. He rarely laughed at her anymore, especially since it she was usually explaining something about Potions that he hadn't understood.

"If you really don't want it that is." Cal broke the silence. "Oh I know. It's the parchment isn't it? You've really got no use for holed parchment since you don't have a notebook. Hold on." Cal laughed and dug into his bag, searching and pushing through all the way to the very bottom of it until his hand found what he was looking for. He pulled it up and out through all of the debris of old parchment notes and broken quill bits and books. "Here. You can use this one. It's a spare. Had it since first year and I've never needed it once. I think my Mum intended for it to be more of a journal anyway. She's weird like that."

Spicen stared at him as he held out the green leather notebook. The front wasn't embellished with a class name like his black ones, but it did still have his initials on it and a little bit of parchment inside. It also looked just as expensive as the rest of his school things, if a little bit more beat up from being in the bottom of his rucksack for five and a half years.

"It's much nicer to use than just parchment. Keeps your notes safe from tearing, right?" Cal stated again, frowning as she didn't take it from him. He'd never met anyone who didn't automatically accept something he wanted to give them. But then, he'd also never met someone so impossibly stubborn as Spicen was. Spicen, who's whole ink and quill supply had been decimated by fourth years last month. Spicen who's robes were obviously second hand and patched poorly in different places, hanging off of her as she tried to grow into them. Spicen, the Hufflepuff and Muggleborn girl who he was actually starting to think of as a friend instead of just an acquaintance who was good at helping his do well in Potions. "Right then. Here."

Cal put the notebook in the box with the other things, closed the box up and then shoved it into Spicen's bag while she stared at him, her mouth turned upside-down as her chin set. He knew that face. She was getting angry with him and he was going to hear all about it.

"D-d-don't y-y-you…!" Spicen began, but Cal was already beginning to pack up his things. He shoved his books and ink and essay all into his bag and slung it onto his shoulder quickly.

"See you later! Thanks for the Potions help!" He called, laughing as he raced away. He knew she wouldn't follow him and risk being seen together for even a second. It would cause problems for them both.

Spicen glared after him and looked down at her bag with a frown. He hadn't had to give her all those supplies… She bit her lip and then, smiling, pulled the box from her bag and tugged out the green notebook. She hugged it to her chest, feeling grateful for the boy who hadn't taken no for an answer and who had basically just called her a friend. She'd never had anyone even remotely come close to referring to her as a friend before. It made her feel warm and happy.

* * *

><p>Yaaaaay! This one's just a tiny bit darker than the last few, but I like it anyway and I really hopeyou did too! :D If you've got the time, I always love hearing from you guys! Th next chapter shouldn't take a long as this one as I know exactly what is going to occur within it this time beforehand.<p>

Love always,

S.Q.O.


	5. Horrific

Disclaimer: J.K Rowling is le awesome.

_**WARNING:**_The rating of this fic has changed simply due to the content of this chapter and safety reasons. It's borderline so I changed it to protect it.

**The Third Tier**

_**Chapter Five: In Which a Boy Makes a Horrific Discovery**_

The weeks passed and November slowly changed to December. The Hogwarts grounds were covered with two feet of snow one night, and then another storm blew up another foot the very next week, leaving the whole place sparkling with wonder on the outside while the inside was beginning to sport decorations over the course of the week leading up to the winter holidays. Most students were excited when that last bell rang on the seventeenth of December, indicating the start of the holidays. Students would be shipped home on the train tomorrow due to return on the second day of January, a whole two weeks of vacation.

However, there were those who were taking their holiday homework to heart.

Spicen sat in her usual chair on the third tier of the library. She'd just finished eating dinner and had come up to get some last minute work done before the library closed and she wouldn't be able to get back into it until she got back to school.

Cal, it seemed, had a similar idea, a last chance to get books for a research paper that had been assigned in Herbology. It wasn't due until the beginning of February but it was always better to get a head start when you could. And he didn't know what other kinds of work would be waiting for him at the beginning of term. As always though, he got the books he needed and then made his way upwards to the third floor. It wasn't like he absolutely had to go up there to study or anything, but sometimes he felt like he should probably go up just to see if Spicen was there. It was his duty as a Prefect after all, to make sure students were doing well, especially the ones without friends.

"Hey." Cal dropped down onto the foot rest in front of Spicen's chair, slipping his bag off and setting it down on the floor beside him. Spicen looked up from her book and nodded in greeting. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Cal spoke again. "So, excited for the holidays?"

Spicen shrugged. She wasn't much of one for the holidays to be honest. Winter was cold and she had to spend the end half of December at home instead of in the magnificent castle where people were unlikely to bother her too much.

Cal smiled. Half of Spicen's communications involved either shrugging or head movement. Sometimes she would actually grace him with the presence of her voice if she was feeling particularly chatty, but otherwise, he had had to learn how to read her body language. It wasn't hard to be honest. She let out a lot of emotion on her face when it counted.

"My mother always make a huge to-do over the winter break. She seems to think I won't be home ever again and she has to make the very best of it while I am. I almost never get a moment's peace… What about you? Are you going home or staying here?"

"H-home." Spicen nodded, frowning and turning her face away from him. She gripped the book in her hands a bit harder than usual and Cal frowned as well.

"Do you not like going home? I thought you went every month or so… Is it because of your father's illness?"

Spicen let out a choked laughed, sputtering a bit as her head flew back. It wasn't the normal laugh, of something that was honestly funny. It was off and strange, the kind of laugh one made when something was incorrect, though usually it was accompanied by the words 'As if' or something along those particular lines of dialogue.

"H-he's o-onllly-ly i-illlll i-innnn th-the h-h-head-d-d." Spicen forced out, her mouth working overtime as her brow furrowed. It'd been a few days since she'd spoken out loud. For some reason it was always worse when she hadn't.

"Oh." Cal frowned, not really sure what to make of that statement. He had an uncle who was a little off, but no one had ever really thought him 'ill' the way Spicen was implying. "Well… I hope you have a nice holiday anyway, Huffledork."

Spicen grinned and shook her head. "Y-you t-too, S-slllyth-therrrr-a-ass."

Cal chuckled and waved her good-bye as he turned and headed back towards the stairs. Something itched at him as being off, but he didn't really dwell on it right then. He had too many other things to be thinking about than a girl with a stutter who didn't want to go home to her mentally ill father.

…...

"Callahan! Oh look at you!" Cal winced slightly as his mother grabbed hold of him right on the platform of 9 ¾ and tugged him to her. She hugged him fiercely and licked her thumb, reaching out to rub chocolate only she could see off of one of his cheeks. "My little prince, home for such a short time. Are you still quite sure you don't want to finish up your schooling with a private tutor? After all, you could be done sooner and then we could find you a high up job at the Ministry and…"

"Muuum." Cal groaned, rolling his eyes and hugging her back before rubbing at his face with one of the sleeves of his wool coat. He was happy to see her, though he could have done without the immediate need to coddle.

"Oh dear. You must be tired and famished! Of course. Come along then, sweetheart. Let's get you home and fed and into bed. Would you like me to have the elves draw you up a bath after dinner? Maybe with some of that lavender oil that helps you sleep well. And I could read to you from that book you like, what was it called again…?"

"Mum!" Cal let his eyes trail around to nearby faces and grimaced inwardly as he saw Hamilton chuckling as he passed by. Great. Now everyone in the whole school would think he enjoyed being molly-coddled. Although, a lavender bath and book reading did actually sound quite lovely… He didn't enjoy being treated like a five year old, however, he did enjoy spending time with his mother after he'd been at school for months. It was nice to just be able to shed the clothing of being a Prefect and good student every once in a while and just be Cal. He still had to be up to his mother's standards, but she held him in such a regard that he could almost do no wrong in her mind so long as she could come up with a logical explanation even if it didn't even fit with the situation. Denial most people called it.

"Come along, love. Let's get out of this horrid Muggle infested place, shall we? If we head over to the Leaky Cauldron, we can Floo home before it gets too late." Mrs. Wilkes grabbed hold of her son's arm and tugged him along, ignoring the fact that his trunk was sitting there on the platform still. It didn't matter. The house elves would be along in a few minutes to magic it home so she could enjoy a lovely stroll with her son even if it was upon Muggle streets.

They headed out through the barrier separating the platform from the rest of the train station. The place was crowded with people, partly Muggleborn students meeting up with their parents and lots of other Muggles departing or arriving at the station. Cal spotted Hamilton again, but this time the Gryffindor was being hugged by a small woman with mousey brown hair and a tall sturdy looking man holding a small toddler who was reaching for her older brother already. It was strange seeing Hamilton surrounded by his family instead of playing a joke on someone. Cal frowned and looked away, feeling as though he were interrupting something with just his gaze. His eyes fell instead on a retreating figure with auburn hair flowing down her back.

Cal almost wouldn't have recognized Spicen if it hadn't been for the way she kept her head down and the S.V. haphazardly put on her beaten old trunk with pieces of tape. It was odd seeing her in jeans and a ragged grey sweatshirt instead of school robes. He frowned, watching as she strode steadily in the direction of the station exit without even bothering to look around. Had no one come to greet her?

Cal and his mother made their way out of the station, the woman jabbering away about what she had planned for the coming two weeks while her son's attention was still on the Muggleborn girl wandering about ten feet ahead of them. Cal kept waiting to see her bump into someone who was running late or to get into one of the cars sitting along the curb waiting for people. However, to his surprise, she did neither. Instead, halfway down the street, she started running and then climbed aboard a bus, dragging her trunk along behind her. Cal watched as the bus was boarded by several other people and then the doors closed, heading off away from the curb and down the road right past him and his mother. He watched it go along and take a left turn at an intersection and the it was gone.

"Hurry, hurry. Let's not dawdle now." Mrs. Wilkes frowned, tugging Cal along hurriedly, not wanting to spend more time out in the Muggle world than was absolutely necessary. If it was up to her, she would have side-along apparated Cal with her, but as it was, he refused to do so. It made him feel like a little kid and walking to use the Floo wasn't that bad. He enjoyed getting out before he'd be cooped up in the manor until the holidays were over and he was shipped back off to Hogwarts.

…...

Spicen heaved a sigh as she climbed aboard the bus, digging into her pocket for her ID to show she was under the age of sixteen. The driver laughed, shaking his head.

"Aye kid. I know ye. Over in Stockwell, righ'?"

Spicen nodded and tugged her trunk along towards the back of the bus. She got herself into a place where she wouldn't be in the way and sat down, shifting her trunk over. She let her head fall against the window, peering out into the overcast world that she knew fairly well despite not getting out much. The bus trundled along with ease, stopping now and then to let people on and off. She stayed on it for a while and then got off to catch another one.

This second bus was a lot noisier and crowded than the last one, but Spicen managed to continue to keep out of the way. She didn't have to be on it for very long anyway, only a few stops and then, she got off and made her way down the street and up an alley way that served as a short cut to the next street over. Here she wandered down among shops until she found herself outside of a two story- building whose front boasted a sign for Filbert's Soothing Spa and Massage Parlor. She pressed the door open, the bell on the top of it jingling as she pulled her trunk in after her.

The main are of the spa and massage parlor was nice. Hard wood floors, sparkling silver lights dangled from the ceiling, and cushy chairs placed around short coffee tables in the waiting area. A large sleek desk sat directly across from the door and a lovely blonde woman sat behind it on a stool, filing away at her nails as she smacked on a piece of gum. The woman looked up from her filing and frowned.

"Oh. It's just you. Your father's upstairs waiting for you."

Spicen nodded, dragging her trunk along. She went by the desk and through a door to the right of it, making her way down a long hallway with more doors and then through another door to a set of rickety looking stairs. Only the first floor of the building had been freshened up to be nice and presentable. The upper floor however, had peeling wallpaper and paint along the railings. The stairway led up to another hallway that Spicen followed along until she reached a door with the number five on it. She pressed the door open and entered her little bedroom for the few moments it took to set her trunk away in the closet and shut the door to keep it out of sight. She sighed, looking around the room.

Her bedroom was big enough to hold a small bed and a short dresser that also acted as a nightstand with a lamp on it. Faded pictures had been taped to the walls. Old crayon drawings mostly, and several photographs.

Despite it's size and lack of grandeur though, Spicen would much rather have stayed in her tiny bedroom than leave it to go see her father. However, he was waiting for her and she knew she'd be in trouble if she didn't show up, so, taking a deep breathe, she left her room and closed the door behind her.

Spicen made her way down the long hallway and around the corner to where it fanned out into a large open area with a sagging couch, a couple of chairs, and an old tv. Several woman sat here, smoking and chatting away while they flipped through the channels on the television. They ignored Spicen as she passed by them, some of their eyes slightly dazed as though they weren't really there.

Spicen walked through the living room, through a dirty kitchen and then, lastly, to a door off the kitchen that would lead to the very best room in the entire building. She knocked upon the door.

"Enter." A voice called from inside.

Spicen pressed the door open and shut it behind her as she stepped into the room. She frowned at the king size bed and the man sitting up in the middle of it, a cigar hanging out of his mouth. He took it from his mouth and reached across one of the two woman on either side of him to stick it in the ashtray before sitting all the way up.

"Ah. Just in time. Look girls. My darling step-daughter home from boarding school and ready to get to work. Where's my schedule?"

"Here." One of the woman took a clipboard of papers up off one of the sleek night stands and handed it to him. He grinned, flipping through the pages. "Ah yes. Your first appointment is at eight in room six, Mr. Geoffries again. Better go rest up while you can. I've got you booked solid for the next two weeks."

Spicen nodded and left the room, not bothering to give her father a single look back. He wasn't her real father. Just the step-father she'd been saddled with when her mother had married him when she'd been less than a year old. Four years later, that same mother had died and Spicen had been stuck with just Filbert left. He'd used all of her mother's savings to buy this building and turn it into what it was today. Whatever had been left over, well, it went into his cigars and luxurious wardrobe. And women. Lots and lots of women.

…...

"Callahan, do you need some advice love?" Mrs. Wilkes asked a couple of days before Christmas as her son spun around a rack of silvery trinkets. He had found gifts for all of his male friends, you never could go wrong with candy, but finding a gift for Lidia Baddock was about the hardest decision of them all. He could have given her sweets as well, but last time he'd done that he'd gotten a Howler back accusing him of trying to make her fat. He fingered a large locket and then heaved a sigh.

"Mum, what does one get for a girl who already gets everything she wants, but you have to get her something otherwise she will be furious with you?"

"Lidia again?" Mrs. Wilkes asked, reaching out her own hand to spin the necklace rack and frowning. "Well, nothing from here. The Baddock's pride themselves upon more expensive items, so why don't we go check the silversmith down the way? He always has the very best things, although they're not as unique as the ones you would find here."

"Yeah, alright." Cal nodded and was about to follow after his mother when something caught his eye. "Actually, you go on ahead, Mum. I'll be along in a few minutes. I think I'll look her a little while longer."

"Well… alright then." Mrs. Wilkes frowned, looking torn between staying with her son and giving him a little while to himself. She believed it was important to be involved with your children, however, coddling was one thing. Smothering was a complete other.

Cal waved as he watched her go and then reached a hand out, pulling the necklace that had caught his eyes to him. It was a simple silver necklace with a thin chain and a small pendant of a bird. The bird was one of those little chubby ones, just an everyday little bird you could see anywhere, like a robin or sparrow. The charm was flat, made out of silver encompassing three gems. The head and folded wing were emeralds and the rounded stomach was a white opal. An image of Spicen completely drenched in dripping clothes after that time they'd had to bathe in the Prefects bathroom came to mind and he laughed, remembering how she'd looked like an angry little pathetic bird.

Thinking on it now, maybe he should get Spicen a Christmas gift as well. She had seemed indifferent when he'd asked her about the holidays. Perhaps she didn't get to enjoy them as much with her ill father… After a few more moments of deliberation, Cal bought the necklace and pocketed it, not wanting his mother to see. She would ask questions and that wouldn't be any good. If he even hinted at there being any girls he was remotely friends with other than Lidia, who he'd known since they were small as their mothers were friends, there would be an impossible amount of invasive questions over and over.

"Callahan! I've found just the thing. Come see." Mrs. Wilkes called as Cal entered the shop he was meeting her at. He sighed and strode his way to the front, wondering what she could possibly have in mind.

…...

Spicen collapsed on her bed, wincing and reaching out one hand to pull the bowl of soup she'd made herself closer on the desk. She hugged her blanket around herself as she sat up and began to eat, shoving the food into her mouth quickly, knowing she probably didn't have as much time to rest and eat as she would have liked. That was always the way when she came home though. She wouldn't get much sleep or have much of a chance to eat for the whole winter break, nor would any of her holiday homework get finished until shortly before it was due. Usually by the start of term she had to ask for an extension in several of her classes just to have enough time to get it all done.

A knocking came on the door and then it opened, the owner of the hand not even bothering to wait for an answer to come in. No one ever did with Spicen, since she couldn't speak properly. They just knocked as a warning and were coming in whether she liked it or not.

"Your nine o'clock called to cancel." The blonde woman who usually sat downstairs behind the reception desk stated, her nails perfectly shaped and painted a bright fire engine red that matched the color of her lipstick. Her name was Gypsy or something along those lines. There had been so many similar receptionists in the past it was hard to keep them all straight."Your father says you can spend the free time cleaning up the living area or you can join Marisol in room four to help her with her uh… client."

Spicen made a face and Gypsy laughed, shaking her head. "Thought that'd be the answer. Well, finish eating and go clean up then. That place is an absolute sty."

Spicen nodded and chugged down the rest of her soup. It was lukewarm, having not heated completely in the microwave before one of the other women in the building had stopped it and taken it out so she could cook some left over Chinese food.

After washing out her bowl and setting in away in the cupboard, Spicen grabbed the dish washing gloves and spent the next hour and a half picking up garbage and scrubbing away at surfaces in the kitchen, living room, and bathroom. She tossed food wrappers and used tampon tubes, washed dishes that looked like they'd been sitting in the sink for a week, scrubbed the toilets, and was just beginning on dusting the living room when Gypsy called up to her to get ready for her ten-thirty appointment. She groaned and tossed off the gloves, running for the bathroom to clean herself up and get on a change of clothes before she headed downstairs.

…...

Cal fingered the small silver wrapped box in his coat pocket as he strolled down the sidewalk outside of King's Cross station. It was the morning of Christmas Eve and he didn't have a ton of time because he had to be back home and getting ready for the dinner party his parents threw every single year. All of the most important people (according to his mother) would be there this time and he had to look his best as well as be on time. The only way he'd even gotten out of the house alone was excusing himself with the claim that he couldn't go shopping with the person he was looking for a gift for. Truth be told, he'd gotten his mother's gifts weeks ago. No, it was an entirely different reason why he was out here, braving cold Muggle London when he could be home in the countryside in his cozy fire warmed bedroom.

Sure, he could have sent an owl, but something told Cal he needed to deliver this particular gift in person. However, finding the correct address when the only portion of London he knew were the train station, Diagon Alley, and the streets in-between them. He had to start somewhere though, and this was probably the best place.

Callahan Wilkes was about to do something that would cause his mother an aneurysm.

He was going to use public Muggle transportation.

And not only that, but the Muggles who rode those large things, busses, they were called, were mostly probably not even remotely up to his mother's standards of the socially elite.

Cal waited at the bus stop among a crowd of Muggles who was waiting as well, all of them either with a pass or change in their hands, ready for board as the bus pulled up to the curb and opened it's doors. Cal stepped forward, letting others get on first, trying to lag behind and be the last one on if he could.

He gulped, stepping up onto the bus and climbing the stairs upwards towards the driver, not knowing exactly why he was even doing this. Why couldn't he just mail the stupid present instead? This was completely mad!

"Excuse me, sir." Cal began as the bus doors closed behind him and the driver pressed down upon the gas pedal. The man grunted in acknowledgement, not taking his eyes off the road. "I'm looking for a girl."

"Ain't we all kid? Move along and get a seat."

"Well I… What I mean to say is, I'm looking for a specific girl and I believe she rides the bus occasionally." Cal hurried up the steps and grabbed hold of the seat closest to him to keep his balance. The bus turned a corner and he flopped sideways into the seat behind the driver. A woman already sitting there next to the window scowled and tugged her bag out from underneath him.

"Watch yourself!"

"Sorry."

"Lots of girls ride buses, kid."

"She's got reddish-brown hair, green eyes and looks about thirteen, but that's only because she's scrawny. Only about this tall." Cal stood and held his arm out over the driver's shoulder, indicating how tall Spicen was. The driver swatted at his hand.

"Behind the line kid! Behind the line." Cal withdrew his hand quickly, getting dirty looks from several people around him and he glowered right on back at them.

"Have you seen her or not?"

"There's one kid. Lives over in Stockton. Worn out clothes, sometimes dragging along this old beat up trunk."

"That's her." Cal nodded, excitement flooding into his veins as he remembered watching Spicen climb into the bus with her trunk and torn jeans. It had to be her the driver was thinking of, who else could it be? "Do you know where she lives?"

"Nope. I don't go all the way to Stockton. She probably hitches a ride a bit farther up on the route. Hold on…" The drive grabbed up a strange black box thing with holes in it and a long winding black rubber cord coming out one end. He brought it to his mouth and spoke into in in a language Cal didn't quite recognize as only half of it seemed to be English. The driver nodded to himself and set the box back down. "She gets off on the fourth stop in Stockton. Jerry says he thinks he's seen her going into this one place, Filbert's or Fillert's or something. It's a massage parlor. You get off at our next stop and get on the bus for Stockton, then the fourth stop. You'll find it."

"Thank you." Cal nodded, feeling relieved that he had a decent lead on where Spicen lived.

The bus arrived at it's stop and Cal rose, climbing down the steps and onto the curb. The driver stared after him a moment.

"Be careful over there, kid. Place like that in Stockton doesn't bode well." And with that, the bus was gone. Cal watched it go along it's way and then turned his head, waiting for the next one that would take him where he was going.

It arrived a short time later and it wasn't hard to get from the fourth stop to the massage parlor. It was one of the more gaudy buildings on the whole street, it's front shined up with lights and a sign and a lovely window display into the waiting room where several men sat, waiting for their massages.

Cal pressed in through the door, the bell above it tinkling. A woman looked up from the reception desk and blinked, looking him over and sitting more forward on her stool than she had before. She rested her arms onto the desk in front of her and leaned forward, her chest nearly toppling out of her partly unbuttoned top. "What can I help you with, young man?"

"Er…" Cal blinked, momentarily distracted. He shook his head and raised his eyes. "I'm looking for Spicen? Spicen Versailles?"

The woman's bright smile faded and she leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "Why?"

"I'm a friend from school. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd pay her a visit…"

"Well, she's not here. Now, unless you're here to pay for the business we're offering, then get out."

Cal's grip tightened around the box in one pocket and his wand in the other. He technically wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school, but it was always better to be safe than sorry when embarking into unfamiliar situations. "Do you know when she'll be back? Or maybe where she is? I could probably catch her up there if…"

"No. And no. I don't know anything about anything, you got that? Now get your nosy ass out of here."

Cal frowned. Something wasn't right here and he didn't like it. He wasn't sure why, but something about the woman's tone and the fear in her eyes had him step further into the building, skirting his way around the desk and towards the door beyond it. There was no where else to go from this room but that door.

Before anyone could stop him, Cal forced his way through the door.

The woman screamed. "You can't go back there! Get back here! Filbert! Filbert!"

Cal grabbed at doors now. This hallway was lined with them, each with a number upon the shiny black wood. He pushed them open. The first three were empty, but when he got to the fourth one, he stopped dead in his tracks. A cry came from behind this door, and then a smacking slapping down that sent a chill down his spin. He paused only a moment before he pushed this door open.

It was neither the naked bodies nor the whip in the man's hand that caught Cal's eyes first, but rather, those oddly colored green irises full of pain and fear.

Without a word, Cal stepped forward into the room and grabbed hold of the whip as it raised again. The man was thrown off, his anger evident as he tugged at the other end of the whip. "Hey! I've still got a half hour left in my time! I already paid, I get the full hour's worth!"

"You sick bastard!" Cal shouted, his other hand shooting outwards and punching the man squarely in the lower jaw. He dodged a punch thrown at him and lashed out again, missing, and getting a handful of satin sheets instead. The man laughed and shot out at him with both hands, clocking Cal upside both sides of his head. He paused, dizzy for a second before he steadied himself.

"Let's go." Cal dodged another punch as he reached out a hand to Spicen. She took it and he dragged her to her feet, pushing her behind him as the man reached for her. "No! You will not touch her again! Ever!" Cal shouted at him, backing out of the room with Spicen leading the way. They got to the hallway and ran straight into Spicen's step father and Gypsy.

"I'm sorry, Filbert! He burst right through and now this…"

"Girl! Get your ass back in there! Mr. Geoffries is one of our biggest clients and I will not have you ruining…"

"N-no." Spicen managed to get out, her hands reaching out and gripping tightly onto the back of Cal's jacket now. She was shuddering, but she glared right on back at her step father with such loathing it was a surprise he wasn't dead.

"You are my daughter and you will do as you're told!" Filbert shouted again. "And as for you!" He pointed at Cal. "You will leave this place at once and not say a word to anyone, otherwise I'll have you shot and buried where no one will ever find you."

Cal drew his wand, brandishing it in front of himself and Spicen, backing away and keeping himself between her and these terrible people. How long had she been living in this place? Doing these awful things for how many men? "Get your things, Spicen. Just the essentials. We can pick up the rest later."

"A stick? You think a funny little stick is going to…"

"Oh I'm sure you have no idea what I can do with this funny little stick." Cal spat out. "But I'm sure your boss does, don't you sir? You know enough about Spicen to know what this funny little stick is capable of, don't you?"

Filbert gulped, backing away. Gypsy stared at him, stunned. "Sir?"

"Just do what the kid says, Gypsy."

"I don't see how you could possibly think something a silly as a…"

Cal turned his wand, waved it once, and the door behind Gypsy burst into flames. "You're going to let Spicen leave here with me, or that'll be you next. You're going to let her leave, and you're never going to force her to come back to this place, do you understand me? Never again. My mother always taught me, if we want to keep our things, we must treat them nicely or they're break. The same thing works for people, and you have not been very nice, so you are losing her. She deserves better than this disgusting place." Cal backed up the stairs, Spicen leading the way, her long hair trailing down her bare back halfway down her thighs as she hobbled up the stairs.

When they reached the top, Cal turned and followed her into her bedroom where she haphazardly began pulling on clothes and grabbing items off the walls and bed, shoving them into a shopping bag hanging from her footboard. They didn't bother with her trunk except to get her wand out of it, and then they were heading back down the stairs, Spicen's shoes half tied.

"Come on." Cal grabbed hold of her hand and dragged her along, back down the hallway, through the waiting room, and right out onto the sidewalk. He kept his wand out as they walked, not giving a single shit about who saw it. There were certain times when it was okay to use underage magic, and he was hoping this would be approved as being one of them.

Neither teenager spoke as they walked, all the way back to the bus station. Cal finally placed his wand away and they rode buses until they got back to King's Cross Station where they walked the familiar path to the Leaky Cauldron.

Cal frowned when they reached the pub, not really sure what to do now. They could floo back to his house and risk his mother having a heart attack when she found out there was a Muggleborn girl in her house, unless he could hide her properly. Or he could get her a room here for her to stay in until school started back up again.

Spicen didn't say a word, just stared down at her feet as he paced back and forth in front of the Leaky Cauldron, deliberating what the best course of action would be the best to take. However, she was quite thankful, despite her lack of coat and socks. She was out of that wretched place, her most prized possessions hanging from her hand in a simple plastic bag. It hadn't quite hit her yet as to what was really going on… that Cal had shown up out of the blue and not only come to her rescue, but risked his own self showing magic to Muggles. But then again, she couldn't think of much at the moment… she was beginning to feel rather dizzy.

Cal turned around and lunged out, his arms reaching and failing to catch Spicen right before she fell and hit the cement of the sidewalk. He grimaced and kneeled beside her, shaking her, but she was out. Her face was sweaty and red, feverish. This was no good. There was no way he could leave her by herself at the Leaky Cauldron if she was sick. That left the only other option… His mother was going to be so pissed if she found out.

Some people had stopped when Spicen had fallen, their eyes concerned, but Cal ignored their inquiries about her health as he scooped her up, one arm under her knees, the other under her upper back, and started walking. Something wet pressed against the back of his hand and he frowned. The sidewalk hadn't been wet had it? He turned to look, but it was dry, the last snowfall having not occurred for a couple of days. He hurried now, pressing through people and carrying the little Hufflepuff into the pub, not caring who saw which way he went, hoping the amount of people would shield his seeming to go into an abandoned building.

Ignoring stares from those around him, Cal marched straight over to the fireplace and reached up top into the jar of Floo powder that was kept there for public use. He tossed some into the fire and climbed in, dropping Spicen's legs so she was straighter, standing her on the floor and holding her up with both arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders. "Gardenia Place!" He shouted and zipped upwards, sent flying and spiraling around and around through the Floo network, his arms holding tight to Spicen, hoping she'd be alright and this was nothing serious.

They landed in the main fireplace of his family's home, right smack dab in the front entryway where his mother thought a fireplace looked unique and quite lovely. It made it easy for visitors who didn't want to apparate or who had permission to come right on into their home to do so without worrying about waiting out in the cold during the winter.

Hearing voices coming from the living room, Cal knew he had to be quick if he wanted to keep this whole thing a secret. He lifted Spicen back up into his arms and raced across the main hall and up the slightly spiraling stairs to the second floor of the modest, but spacious manor house that had always been his home.

The manor was old, but updated to Mrs. Wilkes's preferences. She liked to have everything fairly modern, or as modern as it got in the pure-blooded homes of the wizarding world. The home sparkled in most places, chandeliers and beautiful large windows that let in a lot of light. Wallpaper covered in gold or silver flowers. Plenty of space for entertaining both indoors and outside on the spacious grounds that were a beautiful shade of green and covered with brilliant flowers during the warmer months. Cal loved his home and his family a great deal, and it would hurt them if they found out he'd brought a Muggleborn into the house.

But she needed help, and at that moment, she was all he had.

Cal made it to his bedroom in the western wing of the house where his parents rooms were as well. There were more bedrooms in the east wing but those were mostly for guests who were important enough to be allowed to stay with them.

Cal maneuvered through the difficulty of opening the large double doors into his bedroom and pressed through them. He kicked them shut and turned quickly, locking them with the magical key stuck into the keyhole. It made it so magic could not be used to open the door, something he had requested when he had hit age thirteen and needed more privacy. His mother had been against it, worried that he'd hurt himself and they wouldn't be able to get to him, but his father had backed her down, stating that every young man needed a space that was just his own. And so, he got his magic key.

Thankful for it now, Cal turned around and carried Spicen over to the large king sized bed that sat centered against the back wall of his bedroom. He heaved a sigh, shucking off his coat and only then, did he notice the blood on his hands.

"Shit." Cal grimaced and turned to look at Spicen. She looked so pale against the dark green satin duvet on his bed…

The whip. Perhaps the man she'd been with when he'd found her had gone too far…

Cal turned Spicen over onto her side and lifted the back of her sweatshirt. He winced, seeing the angry red streaks there, most of them starting to bruise. There were a few though, that weren't just welts, but rather, angry gashes of split skin. They oozed blood slowly, having soaked parts of Spicen's sweatshirt which explained the blood on Cal's hands and the wetness he had felt outside the Leaky Cauldron.

He rose from the bed and headed for his bathroom, tugging open the medical cabinet behind the mirror above his sink. Inside were basic potions, things for stomach aches and colds or minor injuries. He grabbed out a bottle of Dittany and filled a cup with cold water. He placed a wash cloth in the water and carried the items out of the bathroom and set them upon one of his dark oak bedside tables.

Now came the hard part.

Sucking up his nerve and reminding himself he'd already seen her without her clothes on, Cal tugged off Spicen's sweatshirt. She hadn't put on anything underneath it, rushing to leave her step-father's place. He got it up off her head and tossed it to the floor before turning her on her front, making sure her face wasn't pressed against the bed. He took the bottle of Dittany from the table and unscrewed the dropper lid, sucking up some of the brown liquid and pulling it out, careful not to let any drip.

Cal let little drops fall directly onto the open wounds on Spicen's back and watched as they slowly closed, the skin reforming until the gashes no longer looked new, but rather, as though they had had a little while to heal. Satisfied that she was no longer bleeding, Cal went to his dresser and pulled out the first pair of pajamas he could find. They were soft, green flannel plaid and only slightly worn. One of his favorite pairs…

Cal quickly undid the buttons on the pajama top and managed to pull Spicen's arms through the sleeves. He buttoned it back up, averting his eyes enough to try to show her some respect, but at the same time keeping an eye out for any more possible wounds that might need tending to. The top looked huge on her, but at least it was clean.

Cal tugged off her jeans next and would have put the pants on her if it hadn't been for the whip marks and cigarette burns all down her legs. He groaned and repeated the process of putting Dittany on the worst of her wounds before attempting to shimmy the too long, too big pants onto her legs. He managed it on the third try and finally, was able to pull back the covers of his bed and get her tucked in. She looked so small in the too big pajamas and bed, but it only made him think more of a drenched little bird.

Cal placed the cool wash cloth on her forehead, her cheeks still flushed and feverish looking. She hadn't woken up through all of that, so she must really not be feeling well. He didn't blame her though, it wasn't her fault she was ill. It was that wretched step father of hers who was to blame here. What kind of man rented out his own step daughter to other men to use for their own corrupted pleasure?

As he headed towards the bathroom to get some Pepper-Up Potion, a tapping came from one of his windows. Cal looked over to see an official looking owl standing there with a letter tied to it's leg. He frowned and tugged open the window, letting the owl in and untying the letter from it's leg. The owl gave a hoot and flew off, not staying longer than it was required to.

Cal broke open the red wax seal with the Ministry of Magic logo on it and pulled out the letter, but it wasn't for him.

_Dear Miss Versailles,_

_It has come to our attention that a Fire-Making Charm was used this morning at 10:28 at your place of residence in the presence of Muggles, thereby breaking both the Decree for Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. The Muggles in question have had their memories modified. This is your first and only warning. Any further magic associated with your Trace in Muggle territory will be considered a punishable offence and could lead to expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_Rudolpha Beatty_

_Improper Use of Magic Office_

_Ministry of Magic_

Cal crinkled the note up in his hand and tossed it into the rubbish bin by his desk. There was no way Spicen would ever need to read that. It had been his spell anyway that had gotten her in trouble, so he should be the one in trouble. No need to worry her over something so simply avoided. If it was up to him, she wasn't going back to the Muggle world any time soon. No way in hell.

Cal opened the bottle of Pepper-Up Potion and poured some into the cap. He reached out and lifted Spicen up, pouring the slightly burning liquid into her mouth. She coughed and sputtered a bit, but swallowed most of it down. Within a few minutes, there was steam rising out of her ears and the flush of her cheeks was beginning to fade. He heaved a sigh of relief, feeling her cheeks, glad that they were cooler than they had been earlier. He rewet the cool cloth and placed it back on her forehead just as a knocking came on his door.

"Callahan? Are you in there, love? Lunch is ready."

Cal jumped slightly, knocking over the bottle of Pepper-Up Potion. It smashed and he swore under his breath, standing up so it wouldn't get on his shoes.

"Callahan? What was that noise?! Did something break? Are you alright? Let me in sweetheart."

"Fine Mum! Just a glass of water I had. I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Are you sure you don't need help? I could send up one of the house-elves and…"

"I'm fine Mum! Just need to change my clothes." Cal called, rising to his feet. He frowned, looking down at the glass and potion on the floor. He had to get that cleaned up and go downstairs for lunch, but how could he just leave Spicen here by herself? She might panic if she woke up someplace strange… "Actually, if you could send an elf up to help me get these presents wrapped, that'd be great."

"Well… Alright, love."

"Thanks Mum." Cal let out the breath he'd been holding, glad the door was locked and his mother couldn't just walk in on him. He pressed an ear against the door, listening to the sound of her heels striding further and further away. He slid down the door, relieved. He only had a few moments to rest before another knock came upon his door, though this one was smaller and lower set.

"You requested help, sir?" A fairly high pitched voice asked.

Cal opened the door, smiling and letting the house elf enter his room, shutting the door, and relocking it once more. "Yes. Actually, I need help with a couple of things, but they are very sensitive subjects that need the utmost care and to be kept a secret from everyone. No communicating in any way about what's going on in this room, or anything even related to this room, okay?"

"Tilly is good at keeping secrets sir." The house elf smiled, heading over to where the Pepper-Up Potion bottle was still smashed upon the floor. She tutted a bit and then pulled a small wisk broom from her apron along with a little dust pan. "You must be more carefuls."

"I know Tilly." Cal sighed. He went into the bathroom to get another wash rag and together he and Tilly cleaned up the spilled potion and glass.

"So this miss is the secret yes?" Tilly asked, motioning towards the sleeping Spicen with the dust pan before she deposited it's contents into the little waste bin by the desk.

"Absolutely." Cal nodded. "No one can know she's here or why but I'd really appreciate it if you could help me look after her when I can't stay in here. Like, mealtimes and whenever my mother desires my companionship."

"So all the time then?" Tilly asked jokingly. She had completely dropped the 'sir' façade now that she was in the safety of Cal's bedroom. The two had a long time standing that the use of the words 'sir' or 'master' or anything of the sort were not allowed since Cal didn't like to treat the house elves the same as the rest of the house hold. While law required his parents provide clothing and pay the elves, they still maintained the old school idea of treating them like slaves in the ways they could. They paid them as little as possible and worked them hard. Most of the elves in the house had been there well before the laws had passed that made it so they had to be treated better, so they put up with the family's crap.

Tilly had always been Cal's favorite house elf though, because she had a fiery disposition. She liked working in the house, but she refused to take any guff from anyone, and because she knew so many secrets about the family, Mrs. Wilkes was scared to get rid of her. Tilly was basically untouchable and she and Cal got along supremely.

"Something like that. Anyway, her name is Spicen and she's from school. Fifth year Hufflepuff, Muggleborn."

"Ooooo…" Tilly tutted, but Cal continued as though he hadn't heard her.

"She's had it rough for a long time I'm betting and after what I found out today, I couldn't just leave her where she was at so I brought her home. I think her fever is fading, but she might still be sore, so could you just keep an eye on her and make sure she gets anything she needs? Food, potions, maybe a bath if she wants one when she wakes up, but I think what she needs most is to just rest."

"Tilly will take good care of Spicen and keep it an absolute hush hush secret." Tilly nodded, reaching out and fluffing up the pillow beneath Spicen's head. "You go to lunch."

"Thanks so much, Tilly." Cal beamed, glad for the help. He knew he could trust Tilly with this particular task. Feeling safe about his choice, he left the bedroom, locked the door, and headed downstairs for lunch knowing Spicen was in good hands.

* * *

><p>Yay another one! This one was a little darker than the others but it was already pre-planned to head in that direction due to Spicen's past. I hope it wasn't too much for some of you and I really hope you enjoyed the chapter! I really liked this one a loooooot! And I also really love hearing from you guys! It warms my heart and makes me smile a lot, good or bad.<p>

Love always gators,

S.Q.O.


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